Increasingly NFL groups are giving it the outdated school strive for a quarterback and broad receiver mixture.
The 49ers might accomplish that at this time.
A 12 months after they lavishly drafted Trey Lance with the No. 3 decide, his former North Dakota State goal Christian Watson is on the market because the draft holds Rounds 2 and three at this time.
School reunions are en vogue throughout the NFL, similar to:
Vast receiver Marquise Brown being traded Thursday to the Arizona Cardinals, whose quarterback is his former Oklahoma teammate Kyler Murray.
Return a month and there’s Davante Adams fleeing the Packers for the Raiders and his Fresno State pal Derek Carr.
Final 12 months’s draft paired 4 quarterback/receiver combos who had been school colleagues:
— The Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
— The Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne.
— The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith.
— The Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle.
So, is Lance/Wilson subsequent?
The 49ers say Lance is able to begin at quarterback after enjoying primarily 2 1/2 video games in his rookie internship. That’s probably the most he’s performed since 2019, when his main receiver was Watson en path to the FCS nationwide championship.
Lance’s ensuing and ultimate season was restricted to at least one recreation amid COVID lockdown. Watson and the Bison made it again to the nationwide championship stage final season, and he examined among the many prime of his class on the mix, for a draft so wealthy in receivers that six went in Thursday’s first spherical.
Deebo Samuel, the 49ers’ All-Professional dynamo final season in his third 12 months, didn't see his commerce request granted on an evening two of his fellow 2019 draft members had been moved — Marquise Brown to Arizona and A.J. Brown to Philadelphia, the place the later joins his buddy and exercise companion Hurts.
So, the 49ers don't urgently want Watson for Lance.
Do they actually need to spend their prime decide, at No. 61, on one other second-round receiver, which is the place this regime discovered Samuel and the place it regrettably moved up for Dante Pettis in 2018?
Would Watson even final that lengthy within the second spherical, a lot much less lengthy sufficient for the 49ers’ third-round spots?
Lance is just not outwardly campaigning for it, nor would that match along with his humble persona to date with the 49ers, displaying no sense of entitlement whereas he realized behind Jimmy Garoppolo final season.
Earlier this month, earlier than the 49ers’ offseason program started with out Samuel, Lance was revving up in Southern California and throwing to a quartet of different 49ers’ receivers: Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Ray-Ray McCloud and Conor Wedington.
It’s not a bunch that's more likely to instill concern throughout the NFL. Nevertheless it additionally could not compel the 49ers to maneuver up for Watson, after they might deal with different urgent wants on the offensive line’s inside, the defensive position’s edge and the ever-challenged secondary.
Joe Montana and Steve Younger didn’t depend on a university teammate of their 49ers days. All they did was produce the franchise’s assortment of 5 Lombardi Trophies en path to the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame.
It’s been an unreachable normal for each 49ers QB since then. It’s Lance’s flip subsequent to make a run at it, with or with out his fellow Bison.