The San Francisco 49ers made arguably the biggest decision of the 2021 NFL Draft at No. 3 overall. Head coach Kyle Shanahan and the team's front office had agreed to a blockbuster trade several weeks earlier to jump from outside the top 10 to the third overall pick to grab Trey Lance, their quarterback of the future, and they kept the decision under the tightest of wraps.
The betting markets had at one point or another slotted all three potential quarterback options — North Dakota State’s Lance, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and Alabama’s Mac Jones — as the favorite to go at that pick, and there were people making compelling arguments for each player.
In the end, Lance represents the right decision.
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The three options were all stylistically very different quarterbacks, and that’s what made the 49ers' decision so compelling. We have seen Shanahan’s offense succeed with all styles of signal-callers, and given the trade the team made to get in position for this pick, as well as the fact that Jimmy Garoppolo is far from an inept player, it represented a real statement about what Shanahan wants at that position.
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