So far so good for 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance, who took the field for the first time Friday with the team that made him the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft.
Rookie minicamp success is less about the minutiae and more a big-picture look at a player in their first taste of NFL action. Think of it as a pass or fail, even though both words are too strong since aa player’s career isn’t going to be made or broken in a couple days of practice.
The good news for Lance is his first day went well by all accounts of reporters on site.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner tweeted that Lance was nearly perfect in seven-on-seven drills:
FWIW (not much given it was first practice with no pass rush), had #49ers QB Trey Lance at 20-of-24 during three competitive seven on seven sessions and hitting on his first 12 attempts. Was hard to tell if very first attempt was caught or not, though, as they were on far field.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) May 14, 2021
Multiple reporters noted how strong Lance’s arm looked, which is perhaps the only real thing to take away from the session given the small number of participants (only 23 per Wagoner) and no pass rushers to make life difficult for the quarterback.
Matt Maiocco from NBC Sports had a video of Lance showing off that arm strength:
Rookie QB Trey Lance on the #49ers practice field on the first day of rookie minicamp. pic.twitter.com/ZAlRiuuQ0F
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) May 14, 2021
The key for Lance was to not be bad given the conditions of Friday’s rookie mini camp, and he certainly looks the part from the various videos tweeted out by writers on the 49ers beat.
This was one small step for Lance. The tests will only get more difficult from here once veterans arrive for OTAs and mandatory minicamps. Things will get very interesting at the top of the 49ers’ QB depth chart if Lance is still standing out through those periods and into training camp.