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Trey Lance to the Chicago Bears in 2021 is gaining more momentum by the day. Lance has been linked to the Bears in multiple 2021 mock drafts, with ESPN’s leading draft expert and analyst Todd McShay the latest to predict the Bears will attempt to snag their quarterback of the future in Lance.
While the upcoming college football season is currently up for debate, with players, conferences and universities unable to agree on how to have a season mid-pandemic, one thing is certain: like this year, there will be a draft, even if it needs to happen virtually. And Lance will likely be one of the hottest quarterbacks available, just after Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, should he choose to declare.
And, unless he takes a major leap forward or backward, he should be available in the middle of the first round, when the Bears are expected to pick.
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Trey Lance Stats: Big Bodied, Big Armed QB
Lance had just one season at North Dakota State, the hugely successful FCS program previously led by Carson Wentz, among others — but it was quite a memorable season. Listed as 6’4″ and 226 pounds, Lance went 192-287 for 2,786 yards, 28 touchdowns and no interceptions in his first full season under center for the Bison. He’s also the ultimate dual-threat, rushing for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns on 169 attempts (that’s 6.5 yards a carry).
Here’s what McShay had to say about him, and why he’d be a great fit in Chicago, a city thirsting for reliable and efficient quarterback play:
“Lance is big, athletic and tough, and he absolutely dominated the FCS last season. He threw zero interceptions on nearly 300 pass attempts in 2019 and offered dual-threat production, rushing for 50-plus yards in nine of his 16 games. The Bears need a guy they can build around, and they can’t afford to whiff this time. Chicago’s thoughts on Mitchell Trubisky were made clear when it didn’t give him his fifth-year option and signed a soon-to-be 32-year-old Foles who is coming off an injury-plagued, poor 2019 season. Lance is a third-year sophomore with some questions still to be answered — including whether he’d want to declare for the draft at all — but the Bears would love to get this talented signal-caller in the middle of the first round based on his ceiling”
Lance has also displayed a big arm, showing loads of accuracy downfield. He needs work in the pocket, but his strengths more often than not are Mitchell Trubisky’s weaknesses. Lance has been excellent at finding his receivers and hitting them in stride, and he looks better than Trubisky already when it comes to reading defenses and identifying coverages. His experience is limited — although he has already started more games than Trubisky did at North Carolina — but his instincts are incredible.
Nick Foles Would Be the Perfect Veteran Mentor for Lance
Think about it: if Nick Foles pans out and outplays/outlasts Trubisky in Chicago, he would be the perfect quarterback for Lance to learn from. Lance could sit behind Foles for a year if he needed to adjust to the pro game, which is likely, and Foles has the ideal attitude and demeanor to help guide and shape a young quarterback entering the league.
Foles is also tied to Chicago for the next three years, although he does have an opt out clause in his contract — but if things go well for the veteran signal-caller this season, don’t be surprised if the team ends up paying Foles to be the ultimate mentor to their next quarterback of the future.
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