49ers (finally) get their man: San Francisco flirts with Aaron Rodgers, drafts Trey Lance
It won’t be Mac Jones after all.
The 49ers with the No. 3 pick in Thursday’s NFL draft selected North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance.
The 49ers on March 26 traded three first-round picks and a 2022 third-round choice to move up from No. 12 to No. 3 to take their quarterback. Shanahan and Lynch said at the time they were three quarterbacks they were comfortable drafting third and wanted to use the month leading up to the draft to evaluate all the prospects.
Lance, who turns 21 next month, is arguably the draft’s most enigmatic prospect. He only played in one game in 2020 because North Dakota State’s season was derailed by the pandemic. He burst on to the scene in 2019 as a redshirt freshman, leading the Bison to an FCS national championship and 16-0 record. He set an NCAA record with 287 pass attempts without an interception. Lance is considered the most raw prospect of the quarterbacks expected to go in the first round. Some observers believe he would need a year of development before taking over as starter.
Lance is considered by some to have the most pure upside of any quarterback in the draft, leaving it up to Shanahan to develop him into a star to compete with other elite signal callers throughout the league, like Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and others.
There were fireworks well before the draft began on Thursday. First, it started with an NFL Network report there was growing buzz among league circles that Lance would be the pick, and then he overtook Jones to become the betting favorite. There was even a report the 49ers Wednesday had called on the availability of reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers, who’s been rumored to have an uncertain future with the Green Bay Packers.
But the big bombshell came later, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Rodgers, 37, informed the Packers he no longer wanted to play for the team, citing team and league sources. And according to Pro Football Talk, Rodgers’ preferred destinations were the 49ers, Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos, and he wanted to Packers to accept a trade offer from San Francisco.
The Packers refuted the idea they were looking to trade Rodgers with their general manager Brian Gutekunst telling ESPN, “As we’ve stated since the season ended, we are committed to Aaron in 2021 and beyond,” Gutekunst said. “Aaron has been a vital part of our success and we look forward to competing for another championship with him leading our team.”
Green Bay trading Rodgers to another team in the NFC, including one that beat them in the NFC title game two seasons ago, would be a stretch, making it likely the Raiders and Broncos would be more likely destinations. There’s also the compensation factor. The 49ers’ invested three first-round picks and a 2022 third-round pick in getting up to No. 3 in the draft, which likely wouldn’t be enough to land Rodgers anyway. If they had any foresight Rodgers would be available, they might regret trading away those assets which might have been enough to land Rodgers should the Packers make him available.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 5:44 PM.
