Washington Football Team: Five best QB prospects available in the 2021 NFL Draft
3. Trey Lance, North Dakota State
Trey Lance is the best athlete in his class. He’s a fantastic quarterback for the West Coast offense, and likely a great fit in any offense similar to one Scot and Norv Turner run.
Lance is no stranger to the deep ball. He throws a masterful ball down the field and can hurt you with his legs when needed.
The guy who’s been discussed as a more athletic Dak Prescott or a smaller Cam Newton, Trey Lance has all the physical tools to become a competent NFL starting quarterback.
Washington Commanders
The phrase to watch with him is “if” and “upside”. If a coaching staff can tap into Lance’s potential, there’s undoubtedly loads of upside. But there’s an equal chance of him failing as there is of him succeeding.
Lance has, arguably, the best arm in this class. He can sling a 75-yard rope with no issue. Boasting a deep passing grade of 93.0 from PFF, Lance’s 2019 NFL adjusted passer rating on deep throws averages out to 122.9 on all deep-balls.
He is the ideal “risk it for the biscuit” in terms of his throwing style. He averaged an 11.5-yard depth of target over his career while keeping the ball clean with only 1.7% of his throws being deemed “turnover worthy”.
In addition to his wicked arm strength, he is the best in his class with the ball in his hands as a runner. He does his best to initiate contact and bulldoze over defenders the moment he passes the line of scrimmage.
Lance projects to be a weapon in short-yardage and goal-to-go situations, as he is someone you need two and three defenders to take him down. He has a unique skill set that will make him a menace in the RPO game and has loads of athleticism and arm talent to buy him some time for development’s sake over a couple of seasons.
Unfortunately, upside is what you are going to bank on when selecting Lance. His upside is much higher than the results that you’ve seen up to this point.
Lance was given an intermediate passing grade of just 77.6 from PFF, while also performing well below average under pressure, with a 43.6 percent completion percentage when facing pressure.
In addition to that, his adjusted completion percentage sits at only 72 percent which will place him in the 60s in terms of ranking. His intermediate throwing is an issue, as he hovered around 60 percent completion-wise as well.
While his numbers in these aspects don’t look good, it doesn’t help his case that he’s playing against lesser talent. Attending North Dakota State University, Lance isn’t exactly facing what’s considered the cream of the crop. It makes matters worse that he struggles from two important aspects of the passing game against non-Div. I competition.
Though Lance has struggled with his touch in the short and intermediate passing game, he is still a fantastic prospect with athletic ability and throwing strength to make plays on and off-script. While there are holes in his game, he’ll need an organization to provide a simplified game plan that takes advantage of his skillset.
While Trask and Jones benefited from their simplistic offenses, they were loaded at skill positions around them, while also not being able to display adequate arm strength at all three levels or athleticism in and out of the pocket.
Lance, offers all of that with the potential of being a playmaker at the next level. He’s the third-best quarterback that Washington could have a chance to draft. He’s one that would need some time to develop, but he could be the future.