Should the 49ers Have Drafted Justin Fields Instead of Trey Lance?
The 49ers didn't play this past Sunday, and yet Trey Lance trended all day on Twitter, and not because of anything he did -- he has a broken ankle. He trended because Justin Fields played extremely well, and fans wanted to know:
Did the 49ers draft the wrong quarterback?
Fields rushed for 178 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, plus he threw three touchdown passes. He's a big-time playmaker and one of the best athletes in the NFL, and he's improving as a passer. Meanwhile, Lance has been completely unable to improve this season, because he's injured.
So did the 49ers draft the wrong quarterback?
Fields certainly is more athletic than Lance, but Lance has the potential to be the better quarterback -- he just needs to play.
Lance is merely 22-years old -- he's one year younger than Fields. And Lance has started just four games and thrown just 102 passes so far in his career. And his passer rating is a respectable 84.5.
Now let's look at Fields. He threw 115 passes in his first five starts, and his passer rating was 70.5. Technically, Lance had a better start to his career than Fields did. Fields struggled majorly his rookie year -- not many analysts or fans praised him, even though he was young and his athleticism stood out immediately. Since then, Fields has improved drastically, although he still has lots of room for improvement -- he's still inaccurate and takes lots of unnecessary sacks. But by next season, he could be elite. Most good quarterbacks take a few seasons to reach their full potential. Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa each took three years.
Why would Lance be any different? If he's special, he should be special by his third season.
Unfortunately for the 49ers, they already wasted two years of his career. Last season, he mostly sat on the bench. And this season, he mostly sits in a luxury suite. So will next season be Year 3 or Year 1 of his career?
The 49ers made the right choice when they drafted Lance or Fields, they simply botched Lance's development. We'll see if they can fix their mess.
