Guess who’s coming to dinner? … As we have noted in the past, often who attends a particular pro day can be as revealing as how well the player or players actually perform at their workout. As a general rule, teams generally don’t send their senior execs halfway across the country, especially in the middle of a pandemic, to see players that a) they really have no interest in and/or b) that they don’t already have a pretty good grade on. That certainly appeared to be the case at last week’s pro day at North Dakota State where QB Trey Lance worked out in front of a large contingent of NFL personnel people that included as many a 8 league general managers including the GMs of 5 of the team with the first 9 picks this year.
It was no surprise, for example, that both the NY Jets and Carolina, who pick 2nd and 8th overall this year, had their senior people in Fargo last week. Both appear to be very much in the market for a young QB this year and need to check out all the options. It is potentially interesting, though, that Atlanta had a full contingent at Lance’s pro day. The Falcons, who pick 4th this year, have a big decision to make for the upcoming draft. Do they stick with veteran Matt Ryan, who is coming of a very productive year for the Falcons, but is 35, and rebuild the supporting cast around him, or take the the opportunity to draft a possible future replacement. And given the fact that the Falcons were in fact in Fargo scouting Lance in depth suggests that they are at least looking at QB options. Same for Denver which has the 9th pick.
It is also interesting that Detroit had a full contingent at Lance’s pro day. The Lions, of course, acquired veteran starter Jared Goff in the deal in which they sent Matt Stafford the LA Rams. At the time, though, the Lions indicated that that would not necessarily stop them them from taking a QB with the 7th pick this year. again, the fact they were in Fargo suggests that they are indeed at least looking. It is also interesting that both Washington and Chicago, who pick 19th and 20th respectively and appear to desperately want to upgrade the position this year, were at Lance’s pro day in force. It seems unlikely that Lance will last until that point in the draft so the question is are either the No-names or Bears considering trading up for a QB.
It is also potentially revealing in who wasn’t at the NDSU pro day. Of course, it wasn’t any real surprise that Jacksonville wasn’t there. The Jags have the #1 pick overall and are about as committed as possible to taking Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence with the top pick. However, it was a little surprising that Philadelphia wasn’t at the Lance pro day after the Eagles, who pick 6th, traded away Carson Wentz his NDSU predecessor. There were whispers last week, though, that Eagles’ owner wants the team to build around Jalen Hurts rather than try and find a replacement.
The one thing that is for sure is that we’ll get the answer to these questions on April 29th, now just 46 days away. Hang in there!
