Let’s take a look at some news and notes from the NFC South as we approach the witching hour on this Tuesday evening:
- The Falcons were perhaps the most interesting team to watch during the first hour of last month’s draft, as they could have gone in any number of directions. Ultimately, they kept their No. 4 overall pick and selected Florida TE Kyle Pitts as part of their effort to gear up for one final run with Matt Ryan. But if the 49ers had not selected North Dakota State QB Trey Lance one pick before Atlanta, then Lance might be holding Ryan’s clipboard this year. The Falcons were represented at both of Lance’s Pro Days, and as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com writes, if there was a signal-caller to stop Atlanta from taking Pitts, Lance might have been it (subscription required). A source tells Fowler that Lance thought the Falcons were the club most interested in him, and after the Pro Days, NDSU coaching staff got the sense that Lance would not fall past Atlanta.
- The final pick of the first round of this year’s draft, Joe Tryon, underwent a knee scope a few weeks ago, per Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians (Twitter link via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com). Luckily, Arians said the Washington product should be ready to go by next month’s mandatory minicamp. Tryon opted out of the 2020 collegiate season, but he was a menace in 2019, racking up eight sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss. He should provide even more firepower to Tampa’s front seven.
- The Panthers continue to make additions to their personnel department. Carolina has hired former Washington Football Team scout Cole Spencer as its new director of college scouting, the team announced. The Panthers hired former linebacker Dan Morgan as their assistant GM last week, and new general manager Scott Fitterer is continuing to put his stamp on the front office. Spencer had been with WFT for over a decade and was promoted to national scout in 2019.
I had hoped that 49ers would have taken bamas qb and lance would fall to ATL that way Pits would fall to my Dolphins it would have been a great fit .
I think Miami got too cute trying to trade back then up. Should have stayed at 3 and went for Pitts.
Actually, Miami did very well and got the WR they had targeted all along.
Once they got the monster offer from SF, they had to take it. Two future firsts and a future third is a ton of draft value to move back nine spots.
But, they wanted to get back in the top eight or better because they knew Waddle (as well as Chase and Smith) would be gone by the twelfth pick.
So, they did the second trade and got to six.
still dont get the Lance appeal
I have to be honest and agree, though with the obvious caveat that I’m a fan at home, and know much less about Lance’s specifics than the guys making these decisions. I think that the COVID year really affected this draft’s “stars” a lot due to available tape, lost game experience, and lost days staying in game shape for many of these rookies. Perhaps that means that we’ll see more gems in the later rounds than expected, or more average/bad picks in the early rounds. We’ll see.
That’s it, he has no tape. He played 1 game and was terrible season before he was phenomenal and season before he couldn’t get on the field. That not one FBS program thought he would see the field at QB I’m his college career and then NFL teams gave up so much to move up for him after 1 season of FCS action is odd. Yet everybody is always looking for the next franchise QB and forcing the issue. I wish him well but see a monumental bust here.
The Falcons must have been extremely interested if Lance considered them his number one most likely team. Shanahan ran his pro-day drills and Lance switched his QB training coach on Shanahan’s recommendation. The coach he switched to was also Shanahan’s pick. I can’t see any way that he believed that the 49ers were not going to pick him, or that San Fran did not tell him that he was their choice.
Now, it may have been true that San Francisco was comfortable with the other two top QBs that would have been there, and could have had a last minute pivot to another, but I don’t think that they traded up that high and communicated that much with Lance with the though that he wasn’t their guy. Atlanta might have been more interested, which is why the 9ers put on that public facade, but I don’t see how Lance was not at least given this information with the work he did with Shanahan and the switching of his coach.
Kyle Shanahan screws the Falcons once again!…he’s making a habit of screwing us over lol
Hey, that depends on how Lance turns out. Maybe you’ll end up winning this one!
Kyle Shanahan got you a 25 point lead late in the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl. Stop looking at him, and start looking at Dan Quinn and the DC. It’s baffling that he gets blamed for that colossal collapse.
Should they have run the ball more? Yes. Is that the reason and only reason they lost? Absolutely not.