Chicago Bears find franchise quarterback in three-round 2021 mock draft

Round 1, Pick No. 16

After the top two quarterbacks Trevor Lawerence and Justin Fields, it is murky who the next best quarterback is. After last season, Trey Lance was the unquestioned third quarterback. With the recent rise of Zach Wilson and Lance not playing this season, Wilson has passed Lance according to TDN’s rankings and others as well.

Lance is likely to be the third North Dakota State quarterback in a row to make the NFL which is hard to do for an FCS school. Carson Wentz was a first-round pick in 2016 and Easton Stick was a fifth-round pick in 2019. After Stick, Lance took over and took over perfectly.

Many were worried that a redshirt freshman could not take the reins of this powerhouse FCS team that had just won the FCS Championship. Those worries went away quickly. Lance led them to a championship once again, but he didn’t just simply lead them. He broke records on the way.

Lance finished the year with 66.9% completion for 2,786 yards and 28 touchdowns. Oh, by the way, he didn’t throw a single interception. Yes, you read that right. He threw zero interceptions on 287 attempts. Besides his insane throwing stats, he added 1,100 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns.

Lance has the ceiling of a Lamar Jackson-esque quarterback. He is a true dual-threat and can be used like so at the next level. He may need some time to develop as he only has one year of college experience in FCS football, but his high ceiling is incredibly impressive.