“I was just so excited and intrigued by the stuff you could do with him”: Kyle Shanahan details the process of drafting Trey Lance

The San Francisco 49ers were on everybody’s mind heading into the 2021 NFL draft. And they answered the pivotal question when they drafted NDSU QB Trey Lance with the 3^rd overall pick. And on Monday, HC Kyle Shanahan detailed what went down on their way to draft Lance.

Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers were so secretive with their plan with the third-overall pick that it’s still a mystery what transpired behind the scenes that led to the selection of Trey Lance.

Leading up to the draft, Alabama QB Mac Jones was considered the favorite to be drafted by the 49ers ever since they traded up to the 3^rd overall pick. But then John Lynch And Kyle Shanahan surprised many after drafting Trey Lance to be their QB of the future.

The 49ers head coach “fell in love” with the top prospect. He knew San Francisco needed to trade up from No. 12 to three to get him. Shanahan detailed Lances’ evaluation on an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show on Monday.

Kyle Shanahan revealed Trey Lance’s evaluation process.

“The thing that made us so confident is we got vacation through January, unfortunately. That means you weren’t in the playoffs. So I just went down to a little beach house where I’ve got all my film and just watched quarterbacks for a month,” Shanahan told Eisen.

“And to feel the way that I did, especially about Mac (Jones), and then about Trey (Lance), and where we were at. Especially with what happened with (Matthew) Stafford and Deshaun (Watson), we knew early, ‘hey, we gotta be aggressive to make sure we get one.’

“Where is that spot? We looked into all the others. We looked into the fourth pick. We looked into the fifth pick. The third one was the one that had the most chance of making a move a month in advance. And I truly believe if wouldn’t have, someone else was going to eventually, and that price was only gonna go up.”

Shanahan then added what it was about Lance that made him the one. “When I looked at him in January, the first time I finished with the tape, I was just, I had gone through about four games and I collected a bunch of stuff and I sent it over to John [Lynch] that night and I was just so excited and intrigued by the stuff you could do with him,” Shanahan told Eisen on Monday.

“He looked the part in some many ways as a quarterback and then looking into the running element, so I was kind of just enamored with all that stuff from the get-go.”

Trey Lance ended up in a great situation with a head coach that is great with young QBs. Whether he will start in 2021 is still up in the air. But irrespective of when that is, it will be very interesting to see Lance transition into the Pros.

Also Read: “Gotta appreciate what u got while u got it!”: Davante Adams posts cryptic tweet amidst Aaron Rodgers & Packers drama.