Eagles Cover the Bases at Trey Lance's Pro Day

PHILADELPHIA - He's Carson Wentz's friend and has the same personal quarterback coach as Jalen Hurts.

If Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie had his druthers, though, Trey Lance will not be starting his professional career in Philadelphia, a victim of the tricky political winds of having another North Dakota State quarterback on the heels of the ugly Wentz divorce.

It's not fair, of course.

Lance should be in the conversation at No. 6 overall, evaluated just like anyone else who is projected to go in the top half of the first round during the 2021 NFL Draft next month.

Lurie, though, has reportedly stripped that ability from the personnel department to consider Lance, and in theory, Ohio State's Justin Fields and Alabama's Mac Jones, too, after the 2020 debacle where Hurts' selection in the second round put Wentz in a tailspin he never recovered from.

The Eagles are playing the game, though, sending offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson to take in Lance's Pro Day in the Fargodome on Friday morning, but that's a far cry from 2016 when Lurie may have made his first and only trip to North Dakota, along with GM Howie Roseman, to take Wentz out to dinner.

The best throws from @NDSUFootball QB @TreyLance09's Pro Day!

Lance is rated the No. 3 QB in the 2021 #NFLDraft by @MoveTheSticks. pic.twitter.com/hJEdNDMM7f
— NFL (@NFL) March 12, 2021

By sending Steichen and Johnson, there is now plausible deniability for the organization baked-in just in case Lance reaches the high ceiling and not the low floor of a prospect who only played in 17 career college games, all of them against FCS-level competition.

From here, the Eagles can just point to the Pro Day, say they did their due diligence and felt (insert name])was the better prospect.

The lack of playing time was not Lance's fault.

He led NDSU to an undefeated 2019 season and another FCS National Championship. Lance would have been raring to go in 2020 as well but the school decided to not play a full fall season due to the pandemic. By that point, a spring season was off the table for Lance because draft preparation was the goal.

So, Lance found Quincy Avery in Atlanta, the same personal tutor of Hurts, Deshaun Watson, and many other QBs in an effort to get ready.

In some ways that might have helped him. Instead of game-planning for the next opponent, Lance was honing in on himself for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday.

It was all footwork, eye placement, combine throws, and film study. While NFL coaches say you can't replicate live reps they tend to also bemoan the mechanical deficiencies being ignored at the college level.

To use Matt Bowen's scouting report (which was based on film study) as a template on Lance the top two weaknesses mentioned were tied to mechanics: an elongated throwing motion and third-level accuracy tied to poor footwork.

Re-posting my #NFL draft report on North Dakota State QB Trey Lance — with updated height/weight (Pro Day).

Based on tape study only. pic.twitter.com/ry4Qiv6Xs8
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) March 12, 2021

In theory, at least, Lance had a leg up on correcting those issues which were similar to the things derailing Wentz in Philadelphia.

Avery was front-and-center Friday, scripting the 66-throw session in which the ball rarely hit the turf. Former scout and NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah came away impressed, echoing improvements on the Bowen critiques.

“The footwork was outstanding," Jeremiah noted. " … The other thing (they) wanted to showcase was his delivery. There are times he can get a little elongated and the ball will drop down a little bit, I thought he was more consistent with that."

Lance, meanwhile, was just thrilled to get back to something resembling competition.

“I was looking forward to this," he said. "Six months, it’s been a long time since I got to throw at the Fargodome."

As for all the comps, everyone from Wentz, the former NDSU star and No. 2 overall pick, to former Tennessee star Steve McNair and fellow Avery student, Watson, Lance was flattered but also distanced himself.

"For me, I like to try to take a lot of pieces from different guys' games," he said, "but at the end of the day, I'm Trey Lance, I'm not anybody else."

If only Lurie was listening.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Thursday on The Middle with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, former Eagles OT Barrett Brooks streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and SportsMap Radio. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.