Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan joined the I Am Athlete podcast and was asked about the process that led to the team picking quarterback Trey Lance with the No. 3 draft pick last year. There was much speculation as to who the 49ers were planning to draft after trading from No. 12. Many thought Shanahan was targeting quarterback Mac Jones, while many fans scoffed at the idea.
Jones was a target – along with Lance.
“We made the trade so early that I felt good because I knew before we made it,” Shanahan said, “and how good we were going to be [one] at 12. There were two I really wanted.
Shanahan was asked to name the second quarterback.
“Mac,” the 49ers coach replied. “Yes, Mac Jones and Trey. Those were the two guys we were attached to from the start and if we never moved up [No. 3], we would never have had the opportunity to learn more about Trey. That was the hardest part. You have to be so sneaky and stuff when you’re back there because you don’t want people jumping in front of you and I had a very strong feeling that people would jump in front of us.
“So going through that process of getting to know them both – Trey was tough because he didn’t play football the year before and it was a small school. So we learned so much about her from knowing each other and being there because we didn’t have anything to hide, and that made me feel a lot more confident.”
Shanahan added that he can’t say exactly when the decision shifted to Lance, but the manager obviously got to the point where he felt good about choosing him over Jones.
“Mac had so much good stuff on tape the way he was playing,” Shanahan said. “And Trey, I loved what he put on tape. It was a football year, so it wasn’t quite enough, and especially the division. But the more you delve into it, the more I got to know the guy. The more I had to find out some stuff about him, the more I believed in what I didn’t see and what I think we’re going to see.” Nobody is perfect Found an error in this article?
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