Cleveland – After all the speculation and controversy surrounding the Forty-Niners draft pick. San Francisco chose Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft this evening. After trading up in the draft with the Miami Dolphins, there was immediate concern that current quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would be of no use to the team in the future. Both General Manager, John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan said Garoppolo was still their guy.
Tonight, the 49ers selected North Dakota’s State quarterback, who will definitely learn from Garoppolo as he develops into the guy the team needs him to be. Despite the countless rumors that Alabama’s Mac Jones was their guy, Lance ended all of that today.
“We have been very high on Trey since the very beginning, since day one,” said Shanahan. “To go through this whole process where no one has known how John and I feel and felt this whole time, we do that because you don’t want to sway people in this building. You want everyone to work their butts off and give you their honest info. That’s why we don’t share at all how we felt.”
Shanahan was adamant that Garoppolo is still and would be their starting quarterback for the upcoming season. Once San Francisco traded up the rumors began on how Garoppolo would not be the future of the franchise due to the draft having so many top quarterbacks from 1-4. Especially Trevor Lawerence who went No. 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Now we made this move, so it’s obvious what I hope and believe with this guy coming in,” Shanahan explained. “But it would be a very tough situation if Jimmy is not on our team. I want Jimmy to be here. I want this kid to be brought along. I want to see how he does. And if turns into a competition, it turns into a competition. I would be excited about that if he showed he was ready for it and stuff. But we know where Jimmy is at.”
Lance appeared in 19 games (17 starts) in three years (2018-2020) at North Dakota State and completed 208-of-318 passing attempts for 2,947 yards. That included 30 touchdowns and 1 interception to go along with 192 rushing attempts for 1,325 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground.
Lance became the first freshman to be awarded the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. Also won the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman player, becoming the first player to win both major FCS legacy awards in the same season.
Lance talks with the media and discusses how excited he is to work with Garoppolo:
Photo by 49ers/Twitter
