Everybody praised the San Francisco 49ers for “fleecing” the Chicago Bears back in 2017 when they traded down to let Ryan Pace draft Mitch Trubisky. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch had robbed the Bears blind and were laughing all the way to the bank. Trubisky ended up a disappointment while the 49ers reached the Super Bowl in 2019. Except they lost, primarily due to the limitations of their own quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.
No big deal, right? They would bide their time and make a move for somebody better. Shanahan is an offensive genius. Lynch is a top GM. There is no way they could make the same mistake Pace did. Picking a quarterback is easy for guys like them. The moment arrived in 2021. San Francisco sent three 1st round picks to the Miami Dolphins for the 3rd overall selection. Shanahan had a good idea of who he wanted when the deal went down.
“We did the trade so early that it made me feel good about it. I knew before we did it how I felt about the quarterbacks and how good we would be to take them at 12. There were two that I really wanted… Mac Jones and Trey [Lance]. Those were the two guys that we were locked in on from the beginning.”
Ultimately, the 49ers went with Lance. It was a huge shock to many. They failed to understand how an FCS quarterback with limited starting experience had somehow gotten more consideration than Justin Fields, a Heisman finalist who’d carried his team to the national championship game a few months prior. After watching Sunday at Soldier Field, Shanahan might have some Trubisky-like regrets.
Kyle Shanahan fell into a classic NFL draft trap.
He went with his heart instead of his head. The same thing happened to Pace in 2017. The former Bears GM fell in love with Trubisky the person, rather than sticking to the tape. Shanahan and others in the 49ers organization lauded Lance for his work ethic and outstanding intelligence. While that’s all well and good, his tape didn’t compare to Fields. That was especially true when it came to throwing the football.
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Lance had a 55% completion rate through his first four starts, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Then he suffered a season-ending injury against Seattle. It was a nightmare scenario for San Francisco. Meanwhile, Fields has over 1,100 total yards, 11 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 99.7 passer rating in his last five games.
It’s fair to wonder where Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers would be right now if they had him instead of Lance. He’ll never admit it, but the head coach probably does too.
I know it’s fun to do comparisons but it’s WAY too early to make big judgements on Lance and Fields. If Fields can learn to read defenses better, make quicker decisions, throw the ball away instead of taking sacks and throw receivers open instead of waiting to see them open he’ll be a top 10, maybe top 3 QB. He’s an amazing athlete and has obviously figured out the running dimension. Lance just needs to stay healthy so he can develop – lots of potential there.
Don’t forget the 49ers ALSO passed on Watson and Mahomes, and they did it to draft some meh defensive tackle from Stanford. Ryan Pace gets a lot of flak for not drafting those QBs but at least he passed on them to take a shot at a QB Trubisky. John Lynch passed them up for DT Solomon Thomas, and if I recall correctly they had not traded for Garoppollo yet, so they had no QB either. Rumor said they were waiting to make a run at Kirk Cousins
we got a qb after so much time. common, 120 mil cap space and a gm that’s competent…