LOL Its a great pick. It was pretty clear all along Jags may swing for ETN. Urban wanted to get faster. Well, we at pretty fast at WR. Robinson is a good back but really slow. Besides, you need two RBs in this league.
How Kyle Shanahan, 49ers targeted Trey Lance: ‘We didn’t tell anybody’ Spoiler The quarterback the 49ers ended up selecting with the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft didn’t know he was being taken until mere seconds before commissioner Roger Goodell called out his name on television. With the first two picks long decided, why so much secrecy? “You never know what’s going to happen,” San Francisco general manager John Lynch said Thursday evening. “Who knows? The MVP of the league may become available.” Lynch wasn’t throwing out a wild hypothetical. The 49ers’ roller-coaster quarterback search included a Wednesday phone call to the Green Bay Packers about disgruntled quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the three-time — and current — league MVP. Presumably, a package to land Rodgers would have included the No. 3 overall pick, but Lynch said the discussion never got that far: “It wasn’t happening.” Even so, the 49ers stuck to the upper Midwest for the franchise’s next quarterback, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, whom coach Kyle Shanahan insisted caught his eye as soon as he started examining the college passers in early January. The 49ers knew they had to bolster the position after Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury-riddled 2020 season, one in which he was forced to the sideline in two of his six starts. That sent them on a high-profile pursuit in which they considered trading for Matthew Stafford, looked into free agents like Andy Dalton and flew across the country to watch Lance, Alabama’s Mac Jones and Ohio State’s Justin Fields. It was like a reality show: “Who Wants to be the 49ers Quarterback?” Lance was the winner, and to hear Lynch and Shanahan tell it, the competition wasn’t nearly as close as it was portrayed. The 49ers’ power duo said they fell for Lance immediately and knew who they would be picking two weeks ago. Lance was especially popular in scouting circles, and the 49ers’ selection drew praise around the league. “He’s going to be a really good player there,” a league executive said Thursday night. “Whoever was going to go there was going to be good because they have a really good team and the offense protects the quarterback. It’s a great place for him to land.” The vibes that Lynch and Shanahan gave off during their Thursday Zoom session with reporters: Relief that their intensely scrutinized search finally was over — and amusement over the narratives that surrounded it. (Andy Clayton-King / Associated Press) As soon as San Francisco made its dramatic trade with Miami to acquire pick No. 3 on March 26, prominent national reporters linked them to Alabama’s Jones, whose accuracy and pocket poise seemed well-suited for Shanahan’s style. Wrong, Shanahan said. “I was in Mexico the day we made the trade, and within hours there’s at least two people out there speculating what their opinions are, that we’re taking Mac Jones,” he said. “Ever since then I’ve watched every single person assume that was accurate and that those weren’t opinions but fact. We didn’t feel that way from the beginning.” Contrary to speculation, Shanahan said he wasn’t seeking someone who played while tethered to the pocket. Lance is 6-foot-4, 225 pounds and ran for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns during North Dakota State’s undefeated 2019 season. His highlight reel is full of him running past — and over — defensive backs and linebackers. When it came to evaluating the college quarterbacks, Shanahan’s process began like it always does: With him locking himself in a dark room and watching all the tape he could find. Whenever Shanahan saw Lance do something well on tape, he marked it off with a plus. For something bad, there was a minus. “I had a lot more pluses for Trey,” he said. “I just did.” The next step in the process was Lance’s initial pro day in Fargo, N.D., on March 12. His throwing coach at the time, Quincy Avery, specifically inserted half a dozen plays from Shanahan’s playbook into the script. Avery thought the 49ers — who then had the No. 12 pick — would be the perfect landing spot for his client. But while teams like the Falcons, Panthers and Lions sent their general managers and head coaches to the session, the 49ers had no prominent attendees. “It was weird to me that they weren’t there,” Avery said. A few days later, Lance moved west. In mid-March he began working with another quarterback coach, John Beck, who played under Shanahan in Washington for two seasons. Beck knew Shanahan’s offense, knew what Shanahan looked for in passers and, most important, was in constant contact with Shanahan. Beck said Lance initially gravitated toward his group because of his association with another former North Dakota State passer, current Chargers backup Easton Stick. But it didn’t hurt that Beck already had a strong connection with Shanahan and assistant general manager Adam Peters. Before Lance’s second pro day on April 19, the 49ers were in steady communication with Beck about what they’d like to see Lance do during the session. “Those guys at the Niners are very, very thorough,” Beck said by phone on Thursday. “Every few days, something would come up — a question, a this or that, a ‘What do you think?’ There was a lot of talk leading up to the pro day. Coming out of the second pro day, there was a lot of talk.” At that point, the 49ers had made their big trade into the No. 3 spot, and Shanahan and Lynch no longer were hiding in the weeds. They and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello took a private jet to Fargo for the workout, which once again featured the types of throws a quarterback has to make in Shanahan’s system. Lance made it look natural. Because of the pandemic, there was little interaction with any of the prospects at the pro days. The charismatic Lynch, however, made it a point to visit with Lance’s family. Lance’s father, Carlton, is a former defensive back who played in the CFL and World League who spent training camp with the 49ers in 1994 when Mike Shanahan was the team’s offensive coordinator. The ball boy back then: Kyle Shanahan. Another connection: Lance has a dog named Niner, although he admitted that has more to do with the number he, Carlton and his younger brother, Bryce, used to wear. “My dad wore it throughout his professional career,” Lance said. “But yeah, it works out great.” North Dakota State may play in the lightly regarded Missouri Valley Conference, but the Bison are considered the Alabama of that league, and they run a sophisticated, pro-style offense. Lance was tasked with calling out protections and changing plays at the line of scrimmage. Shanahan liked how Lance ran the system and said he started to look at him as “a CEO of a company.” (Sam Hodde / Associated Press) “You try to figure out what plays they’re doing and does the ball go to where it should go,” Shanahan said. “When nothing is there, how quick are they to recognize and make it off schedule or to get rid of it, just not take a sack and don’t make it worse? You start to watch some of that stuff with him and I just, I loved his natural ability to play the position.” Shanahan praised Lance’s ability to work out of the pocket and read defenses and said he wasn’t going to turn Lance into a run-first quarterback. But the coach also said he’s “always been intrigued” by quarterbacks who make defenses nervous due to their running ability. After all, he grew up watching his father coach Steve Young and John Elway, both of whom were strong runners. Shanahan has been an NFL play caller for 13 seasons, but he’s rarely been able to work with a hand-picked quarterback. He and his father felt undermined by Washington owner Dan Snyder in their development of Robert Griffin III, the No. 2 pick in 2012. Two years later in Cleveland, Shanahan thought the Browns mismanaged Johnny Manziel, and Shanahan left for Atlanta after the season. Even Garoppolo, whom the 49ers acquired in a trade midway through the 2017 season, wasn’t Shanahan’s top choice. He had been content to wait on Kirk Cousins, his favorite from Washington’s 2012 draft, to become a free agent when Garoppolo suddenly became available. Garoppolo then won five games to end the 2017 season, and the 49ers signed him to a massive, five-year contract. Considering the position he plays and what the 49ers gave up — first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 as well as a third-rounder in 2022 — Lance is by far the most crucial draft pick of the Shanahan-Lynch regime. They gambled on a 20-year-old quarterback from a small school, and whether that gamble pays off could decide their fate in San Francisco. Unlike Griffin in Washington and Manziel in Cleveland, however, there won’t be pressure to play Lance right away. The 49ers can bring him along slowly if they choose. That Lance played at what Shanahan called a “smaller school” and played just one game in 2020 suggests the 49ers will hold onto Garoppolo for the upcoming season. As he usually does, Shanahan stopped short of guaranteeing Garoppolo would be on this year’s roster, but he noted how difficult it would be for Lance to start right away. Shanahan previously has pointed to the rookie apprenticeship Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had under veteran Alex Smith, and he suggested Thursday Lance might take a similar path. “It would be a very tough situation if Jimmy’s not on our team,” he said. “I want Jimmy to be here and I want this kid to be brought along. I want to see how he does, and if it turns into a competition, it turns into a competition. I’d be excited about that if he showed he was ready for it and stuff, but we know where Jimmy’s at. (Lance) hasn’t played football in a year. He hasn’t been to an OTA.” That seemed like the biggest critique of the selection — that Lance might not see the field much in his rookie season. “Trey Lance is accountable, he’s tough, he’s got grit, he is coachable, he is football smart. He just doesn’t have the experience,” a league evaluator said Thursday. “If there’s a concern, it might be getting him the experience he needs when Garoppolo gets all the practice reps as the starter, if that is the plan.” But Shanahan said Lance’s short resume may be what landed him with the 49ers: “Maybe if you got a 2020 year, he wouldn’t have been available at 3.” During the last three months, Shanahan said everyone from his kids’ coaches to restaurant diners have asked what he planned to do at quarterback and weren’t shy about telling Shanahan what he should do. All the while, the 49ers stood there, smiled and refused to share any information. That created plenty of anxiety among fans, most of whom were firmly opposed to selecting Jones, and to some riveting television on Thursday. With the first two selections identified long before the draft began, the NFL and its network partners looked for the 49ers to provide some drama at pick No. 3. They more than obliged. Even Lance was in the dark until the 49ers made their pick around 5:40 p.m. PT. When Shanahan got Lance on the phone, he asked if the quarterback had a hunch the 49ers would call. “Oh, man, I didn’t know, coach,” an emotional Lance replied. “You wouldn’t tell me nothing!” “Hey, we didn’t tell anybody,” Shanahan said. — Additional reporting by The Athletic’s Mike Sando
If they took Trevon Moehrig at 25 and ETN at 33, he wouldn’t have said a word. Who cares if they flip the order?
Of course the Clemson fan likes taking a 3rd down RB when we have holes across the entire field. He's a good player but it was a terrible use of draft capital.
We addressed defense big time in free agency and I imagine we will address safety today. The goal of every GM selecting a first-round QB is to get him weapons. That's what ETN is.
JOK was my personal favorite, but Newsome was right behind him. I’m pretty excited about the pick, and think they got awesome value at what is probably their biggest position of need.
Yeah, there appears to be a drop in talent with CB’s after Asante and Joseph. Still value at LBs in round two/three.
Neither is anyone else that they could have gotten there they have plenty of holes. a RB playmaker being one. They had the #1 pick and a dreadful offense for a reason
My concern with the ETN pick was that Moehrig would go before 33, and we'd lose out on a position of need. I wasn't in love with any other player at the value of 25 and since Moehrig is still on the board, I'm fine with the pick. Yall hating on Robinson is kinda crazy to me though. He had a nice season last year with absolutely nothing at the QB position to keep defenses honest. Averaged 4.5 YPA and 6 YPR. He's not gamebreaking fast but he gets yards consistently.
imagine trying to justify taking a *RB* in the first round on a team so bad it picked first. that would be silly.
Very exciting for Clemson fans that between Watson's fall from grace and both their QB and RB going to the same team, they can seamlessly swap NFL fandom
If it were a non-Clemson player and a non-Jags pick, you'd view it differently. Your bias is showing here. It was a terrible use of capital. We have too many holes to take a 3rd down back at #25.
In addition to platoons, one of the reasons RB have seen their value drop is because they're a position that tends to come into the league ready to play. The first round should be about finding immediate starters, especially for teams as bad as Jacksonville. Etienne isn't that.
I don't have an issue with taking a RB in the first round, even if you have a bad team. Taking a RB in round 1 to be a third down back seems kind of odd, though. I guess Urban could have just been lying about the role to appease the guys already there, too.
just went through the pain of looking up Lions' 2nd round picks since 2007 for the team thread and felt like I needed to share the misery. Any other team have a stretch that comes close to this? D'Aandre Swift, Jahlani Tavai , Kerryon Johnson, Teez Tabor, A'Shawn Robinson, Ameer Abdullah, KVN, Slay, Ryan Broyles, Titus Young, Mikel Leshoure, Louis Delmas, Jordon Dizon, Drew Stanton, Ikaika Alama- Francis, Gerald Alexander. ~2.5 NFL caliber players out of 16 2nd round picks is....not ideal. And it's not like I cut it off before 2007 because we had some stud to skew it -- it doesn't get much better the farther back I go. 4 2nd round picks out of the league within 2 years and this is the lions, so they were high 2nds too
This conversation is so stupid. They’re going to draft the guy at 33 that people wanted at 25. Instead they got a playmaker at 25 that makes their new franchise QB. Who the fuck cares?
he might not have been available at 33. And picking 2 non-RBs would have been great for Jax in those spots
If we didn't have a decent RB, it would make more sense. Robinson isn't prime Adrian Peterson but he's solid. The defense needs help at every level though.
"One of the non-RB's we would have taken at 25 will be there at 33" is so stupid. Those people can't grasp that taking 2 non-RB's was a real option. Addressing 2 needs instead of taking a luxury pick would have been a much better use of the picks.
1. because they likely didn't know the guy we wanted at 25 would be there at 33. 2. because they could have added another player that would be on the field more than 30% of his side of the ball's snaps in the course of the season(assuming Urban is being honest in his 3drb assessment of ETN) 3. because we just changed entire defensive schemes the offseason after fielding the worst defense in the team's history 4. because you can draft a good rb in the 3rd or 4th round or next year if you give Robinson a season with a decent QB and he's not a long-term solution
keep melting down about people talking about the draft in the NFL draft thread. And people questioning a team that went 1-15 and hired Urban Meyer