Chicago Bears: College players to keep an eye on for 2021 (Part 1)

The quarterback position needs to headline the Chicago Bears board

The first quarterback outside of the top two quarterbacks I mentioned earlier needs to be Trey Lance. As I have stated previously, the first thing I look for is eye-popping stats. Eye-popping stats is why I was big on Derek Carr and Patrick Mahomes.

When you can touch that 5,000-yard mark and 50 touchdowns in college, I don’t care who you played. Well, I do, but if that was so easy to do, why isn’t every decent college quarterback doing it? With Trey Lance, there are some fears. One being is that he is not a 5,000-yard passer.

His eye-popping number is zero. 18 games played with 288 passing attempts, 28 passing touchdowns and with zero interceptions. I know it’s North Dakota State, and he has only started one season so far, but this also should mean he is reading the field and making all of the correct decisions.

Last season, Lance completed 66.9% of his passes for 2,786 yards. Why so little of passing yards? Because he can run also.  In 2019, he had 169 carries for 1,100 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns.

We should not discount North Dakota State. That is where Carson Wentz went to school. Wentz was the second overall pick in 2016. His best college season was during his junior year in 2014. He completed  63.7% of his passes for 25 touchdowns and  10 interceptions. He also chipped in with 138 carries for 642 yards and six rushing touchdowns.

Just imagine a better version of Carson Wentz’s college potential. The Chicago Bears might have to trade up for him, but he would be well worth it. Trey Lance could be what Mitch Trubisky was thought to be.