4 pros and cons to the Panthers drafting Trey Lance in 2021
By Dean Jones
Lack of activity
If Trey Lance was hoping to build even more momentum in 2020 leading up to this year’s NFL Draft, the health concerns surrounding COVID-19 put pay to his mission in this regard. North Dakota State played just one game last season, where their quarterback was inconsistent, and he’s had a considerable period away from competitive activity in recent months.
This might represent something of a problem considering Lance only had one full season as a starter. By the time training camp rolls around, it will be almost 18 months before he’s seen anything like a prolonged run of games under center and this could mean it takes the player a little bit of time to adjust before trying to make his presence felt in a professional environment.
Time is something Lance might have with the Carolina Panthers.
But this is all dependent on Teddy Bridgewater making some improvements.
As stated previously, Scott Fitterer, Matt Rhule, and other decision-makers would need to be 100 percent confident in Lance becoming a franchise quarterback to consider taking him at No. 8.
He’ll need to shake some obvious rust off during OTAs and camp – providing they can take place in a normal format in the current climate – but once Lance finds his feet, then someone could have a real player on their hands.
Obviously, the preference is for the Panthers to risk it all for Deshaun Watson. But Lance represents an intriguing consolation prize if this trade doesn’t come off.