Without a doubt, this rookie class had some amazing talent, especially at the quarterback position. It was by far one of the deepest and most talented groups we’ve watched enter the NFL at the same time.

They were led by the consensus number one prospect Trevor Lawrence, but even though he leads this class, he had a lot of competition behind him. Fortunately for these rookies this offseason, we saw a lot of teams go through personnel changes at the quarterback position, and this gave us one exciting draft day.

The biggest shock of the evening came early in the night when the 49ers drafted Trey Lance with the third overall pick, after days and days of speculation that they’d be drafting Mac Jones or even Justin Fields.

Trey Lance was drafted by the 49ers in the 1st round, with the 3rd overall pick

But, regardless of who the 49ers drafted, fantasy managers around the world would be targeting a quarterback coming into a Shanahan run offense.

That’s because his offenses are set up for a quarterback to come in and succeed when they’ve grasped that playbook, and diving into Lance’s small sample size, he played in a similar complex West Coast scheme while at North Dakota State.

He was calling plays, protections from the line and finished the year 17-0, with a touchdown to interception ratio of 30:1. He also ran over 1,000 yards and rushed for 14 touchdowns, showcasing that he’s a prolific runner which is becoming more of the norm for what teams look for in a franchise quarterback.

But his limited starts in college, playing in division two, and playing behind the best offensive line in that division has people speculating that the 49ers will start the season with Jimmy Garoppolo. This just gives Lance more time to develop to the NFL standard.

But of course, if history tells us anything, handsome Jimmy has been prone to injury and this right here is reason alone to expect Trey will have a shot at playing this year. If he does there’s a really good chance he’ll run away with the job.

Although we can’t ignore the fact that there’s a real possibility Lance will beat out Jimmy during training camp and/or pre-season.

Rookie minicamp began and Lance made his practice debut

The majority of passes he threw were short underneath throws, but he soon put his arm and agility on display for everyone to see.

Throughout the 7-on-7’s, Lance had only four incompletions on 24 passing attempts, and two of them were drops. In his first two 7-on-7’s, he connected on 12-straight passes before he had his first incompletion.

The rest of the 49ers roster is in win-now mode, and the piece they feel they’re missing is a quarterback who can finish the job. Remember, they gave up two future first-round picks to move up in this year’s draft for Lance.

This is the biggest reason why we’re expecting Lance to take the field in 2021, the biggest question is when. There really isn’t any reason to hold him back if he’s running circles around Jimmy in training camp/pre-season.

Lance is considered by some as the best rusher in this rookie class.

Redraft Fantasy Impact

It’s no secret anymore that rushing quarterbacks provide a massive advantage over the majority of standard pocket passers, and the good news is we have a few more to choose from now!

The range of possibilities for Trey Lance is huge. Especially when you have the athleticism that he does in an offense like the 49ers, his rushing upside is going straight to the moon.

His mobility will give defenses even more of a headache, while simultaneously opening up the field for George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aijuk to victimize opposing defenses.

Because of the uncertainty right now on the situation, Fantasy Pros has Lance ranked (31) and Jimmy (33).

When August and September roll around we’ll have a much better grasp on this situation, and even if Lance isn’t the starting quarterback right out of the gate. You still may want to consider using a later-round pick and secure what will become the next lotto ticket to getting you one step closer to winning your league.

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