With Panthers staff watching, quarterback Trey Lance has an impressive pro day
If there was any doubt about whether Trey Lance was worthy of top-10 consideration in the 2021 NFL draft, consider it put to rest.
Lance was impressive in his Pro Day on Friday, especially with some of his deep throws.
Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule, general manager Scott Fitterer and offensive coordinator Joe Brady were among those at Lance’s pro day.
Lance wasn’t perfect Friday. But for the most part he was accurate. He threw 66 passes — a mix of short, medium and long-range — and only about eight were off-target or overthrown.
He threw one deep post that had some in attendance in awe and cheering.
Quarterback is one of the Panthers’ many needs this offseason. Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater struggled during the latter part of the 2020 season and is not thought to be their long-term answer at quarterback.
And Lance is a realistic option at No. 8 in the NFL draft. He’s rated by most draft experts as the fourth-best or fifth-best quarterback in the draft behind Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Zach Wilson.
Mac Jones is ahead of him a few draft rankings.
ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper has him ranked 13th-best overall prospect in the draft, while Todd McShay has him as the 12th-best.
According to NFL Mock Draft Database, which aggregates drafts from various media sites, Lance remains the favorite to join the Panthers, being sent to Carolina in 29.5% of mock drafts.
Lance said he has talked to many teams through Zoom calls over the past few weeks, but declined to specify which teams he has talked to.
When asked whether he’d be opposed to sitting behind a veteran during his first year, Lance said his mindset is to compete.
“I don’t think teams would want me to come in any other way,” Lance said. “I’m a competitor first and foremost. So that’s my mindset. I’m just excited to get anywhere, to have an opportunity to play in the National Football League.”
At 6-foot-4 and 224 pounds, Lance has good size for a quarterback. He has drawn comparisons to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair.
Lance turned heads as a redshirt freshman in 2019 after he threw for 2,786 yards, 28 touchdowns and completed 67% of his passes, without throwing an interception. He also ran for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns, and the Bison went undefeated.
“From a knowledge standpoint, and the ability to process quickly, Trey has that,” said North Dakota State quarterbacks coach Randy Hedberg. “He can process at the line of scrimmage as quickly as anyone I’ve coached.”
Hedberg also coached Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz.
There are some questions about Lance’s lack of experience and whether he has enough film to evaluate him. Lance only played one full college season — in 2019 — and one game in 2020 before North Dakota’s season was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In that one game, Lance struggled. He completed 15-of-30 passes for 149 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a 39-28 win over Central Arkansas.
But Lance wasn’t worried about that.
“The biggest thing for me is controlling what I can control and not worrying about what I can’t,” Lance said. “I played every game I possibly could in college. Like I said earlier, I was anticipating to win another national championship in January and have to make the decision then, but it didn’t work out that way.
“Everyone got cheated out of something with COVID.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 3:33 PM.
