The first round of the 2021 NFL Draft is set to begin Thursday, which means soon all of our questions about where the top quarterbacks in this year's class are going to land will be answered.
In that top tier of QB prospects is Trey Lance. The North Dakota State product almost certainly will be one of the first signal-callers off the board along with Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, and Justin Fields.
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One knock on Lance when evaluating him next to those other QBs is his lack of experience. The 20-year-old played only one full collegiate season, albeit an outstanding one, in 2019.
But if you ask Lance's QB coach Quincy Avery, what Lance lacks in experience he more than makes up for with his leadership and preparation. Avery joined Phil Perry on a new episode of the Next Pats Podcast to discuss how Lance's game will translate to the NFL.
Next Pats Podcast - Mock Draft: Patriots play draft-day games and lose shot at star QB | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
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"You're gonna be getting a unique and special leader of your locker room," Avery said of Lance. "I say that because the way that he learns, it's not only quick, but he does it in a way where he retains information and can share with other people. That is gonna genuinely help him as he continues his career. And he's a leader in the aspect where he's doing a lot of things other seniors in college weren't doing as a redshirt freshman.
"He's leading meetings, he's doing all the things that really high-level quarterbacks at the NFL level would do. And he's a tireless worker because he really, really cares about the game and he cares about the position, and he cares about being great."
Lance was handed more responsibilities under center than your typical college quarterback. Avery believes that experience helps to separate Lance from the rest of the pack.
"He's really one of one in terms of my experience with guys," Avery said. "The things he was doing in college are so unique. I've literally never seen somebody else at the edge doing the things that he was doing and I see guys in the NFL who still don't need to do that much in terms of preparation for a game.
"His responsibilities at the line of scrimmage were as high or as much as anybody else in the college game. From identifying his own protections to being responsible for oftentimes half of the concept in their passing game, to really making true NFL real field progression reads. Everything he did at the college level geared him up to be successful in the NFL."
Avery admits Lance needs more reps, but he isn't buying the idea of him being a project heading into the pros. Despite Lance sitting out in 2020 and only playing one full season, Avery believes he'll be ready when called upon.
"If he's a developmental quarterback, then so is everybody else entering the NFL as a rookie quarterback," he said. "And I agree that a lot of guys are going to need more reps, and Trey may need more reps because he didn't play a ton of games, but he played 17 games. Like, people talk about Mac Jones like he's just so prepared to go in the NFL where he started the same exact amount of games that Trey Lance started."
Hear everything Avery had to say about Lance in the full episode of the Next Pats Podcast.
Also discussed in the episode: Phil Perry, Tom E. Curran, and DJ Bean conduct one last live first-round mock draft.
Check out the latest episode of the Next Pats Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, or watch on YouTube below: