49ers brain trust at odds over QB pick? … Interesting report in the local paper in San Francisco over the weekend suggesting that there is some disagreement between 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the personnel over which QB to select with the 3rd pick overall at the 2021 draft. According to the report, Shanahan wants the 49ers to select Alabama QB Mac Jones at that spot, whereas the rest of the front office is leaning toward Trey Lance of North Dakota State. The 49ers, of course, acquired the 3rd pick from Miami for a couple of future first round picks last week with the intention of selecting a QB. Shanahan reportedly sees Jones as a nice fit for the kind of offense he plans to run with the 49ers next year. However, the feeling in the personnel department is that Lance is simply the higher graded prospect and that if Jones was the target the 49ers didn’t really have to give up all that draft capital to move up to the third pick from the 12th.
At the same time, if, as expected, QBs are the first three players off the board on the 29th, then the real intrigue of the 2021 draft could start with the Falcons picking 4th. Of course, the Falcons could very well make it four QBs off the board to start the opening round. And, as we have noted in several recent items, the Falcons have been doing their due diligence on this year’s QB class with senior execs including owner Arthur Blank, G.M. Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith attending all the pro day workouts of each of this year’s top QB prospects which suggests Atlanta may be preparing to move on from 36-year-old incumbent starter Matt Ryan. However, before we get too far over our skies, it should be noted that the Falcons have also had senior people in attendance at the pro days of the top non-QB prospects such as Florida TE Kyle Pitts, LSU WR Ja’Marr Chase and Oregon OT Penei Sewell, each of whom would also be a value pick for Atlanta at that point.
