Trey Lance might be the best fit for the Minnesota Vikings
Brady Vernon
|
As the Minnesota Vikings enter their Bye Week in Week 7, all fans want to do is say bye to Kirk Cousins and Mike Zimmer. Unfortunately, moving on from Cousins isn’t as easy as Zimmer, but as the Vikings sit at 1-5, looking at the future is all the hope Minnesota has left this season. That future, a probable first round pick inside the first 10 picks, should likely be a quarterback. And the Viking fans should spend their time learning about North Dakota State’s Trey Lance.
According to Tankathon.com, Minnesota sits at the sixth overall pick after Week 6. Unless there’s a drastic change within the New York Jets, they seemed destined to select Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. That leaves Ohio State’s Justin Fields, as well as the hot names right now in Florida’s Kyle Trask, BYU’s Zach Wilson and Alabama’s Mac Jones. Looking at that group, Lance might make the most sense for Minnesota.
Barring something crazy, Cousins will be on the Vikings’ roster in 2021. However, he might just be a great bridge quarterback for a player like Lance. In the situation that Lance was drafted by Minnesota, he’d have no pressure to start right away because Cousins would be around anyways.
After playing the lone game on the Bisons’ schedule against Central Arkansas, Lance declared for the NFL Draft. As a draft-eligible redshirt sophomore, Lance only has 17 starts under his belt with 16 of them coming from last season. It certainly was a great year statistically. Lance threw for 28 touchdowns without an interception. He only averaged a little under 175 passing yards per game in 2019, but added 1100 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground as well.
Lance has only played against FCS opponents, but that shouldn’t take away from his physical tools and his 6-foot-4, 225 pound frame. It might take more time than others for Lance to adjust to the NFL speed. Lance might be the perfect fit for a Zimmer replacement such as Kansas City Chief offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy or Buffalo Bills’ Brian Daboll, who have both spent time developing athletic quarterbacks similar to Lance.
What about Lance makes him such an attractive prospect? Let’s take a look.
Lance’s performance versus Central Arkansas might have brought more questions than answers for those unfamiliar with Lance before this year. However, his playmaking ability as a runner was not doubted. He scored a 54-yard touchdown on the ground, breaking multiple tackles on his way into the end zone. One might argue that it was just sloppy play from Central Arkansas, but Lance just looked like the best player on the field during the play and that’s what you want to see no matter the level of competition.
In this era of the NFL, quarterbacks need to mobile. It takes a load off of the offensive line, opens up the playbook and makes the running game more creative. Imagine a defense attempting to stop a read option between a good running quarterback and Dalvin Cook. A quarterback that moves well, makes the most important plays, third downs and the red zone, a lot tougher for defenses.
Lance does have plenty of talent in his arm. In the clip below, Lance shows his best Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson impression by extending a play and allowing it to develop with his legs. He finishes it off for a deep touchdown. This play also came against Montana State in the FCS semifinals game in 2019.
He also has plenty of throws from the pocket. Both these throws against Northern Iowa came on the same drive. The first one shows Lance’s arm strength to fit throws into tighter windows. The deeper touchdown throw comes on a play-action play, which is dominating NFL offenses currently. Lance puts plenty of touch on his throw for the wide receiver to come underneath it perfectly.
Lance isn’t perfect by any means. The North Dakota State offense offers a lot of easy, one-read throws. Lance’s mechanics can be cleaned up. Nevertheless, Minnesota won’t ask him to be ready day one if he ended up the Vikings’ top pick in 2021. In a cloudy future, Lance might be the player to clear it up for Minnesota.