49ers Could Have Surprising Role for Trey Lance in 2021

The San Francisco 49ers traded up to the No. 3 overall pick in order to get the player that they wanted in North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance. While he is expected to be the team's quarterback of the future, Lance could take on a different role during the 2021 season.

Matt Barrows of The Athletic speculates that Lance could be used a bit like Taysom Hill has been over the last few seasons with the New Orleans Saints.

A lot of Trey Lance questions in today's mailbag: When will he play? In what situations will he play? Who will be in the QB room with him? Also, can the #49ers still address slot and/or TE in FA?https://t.co/JovavT0SEj
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) May 7, 2021

Of course, this all depends on whether or not head coach Kyle Shanahan stays committed to expected starter Jimmy Garoppolo.

But this wouldn't be the first time the 49ers use a quarterback in a utility role. Colin Kaepernick averaged 4.3 pass attempts and 3.5 rush attempts early on in the 2012 season before taking over the starting gig. It wouldn't be surprising to see a very similar outcome play out here.

Lance definitely has the athleticism necessary to take on tacklers and pass rushers in any play package that is drawn up. He racked up 2,947 passing yards and 1,325 rushing yards over the course of three seasons with the Bison (19 games played). Lance accounted for 48 total touchdowns during that span as well.

The NFL changes every single year and more teams seem to be open to implementing what Saints head coach Sean Payton has done with Hill over the last few years. We saw rookie Jalen Hurts come in for a few plays here and there in 2020 before eventually taking the starting job from Wentz.

Similarly, Lance may have a shot to showcase his skills right away and that could cause a quarterback controversy to arise in San Francisco sooner than originally expected.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.