49ers draft Trey Lance, fans and players react on Twitter

The San Francisco 49ers made use of their third overall selection on quarterback Trey Lance. As you can imagine, the fans reacted accordingly.

The huge burst of wind you felt was every single San Francisco 49ers fan breathing a sigh of relief when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodall announced North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance was heading to the Bay Area.

The Niners had lots of chatter surrounding their quarterback selection. It was down to Alabama’s Mac Jones who was considered the most NFL-ready signal-caller, Ohio State’s Justin Fields who’s dynamic, and Lance who’s only 20 years old but extremely intriguing.

49ers CEO Jed York had fun on Twitter, particularly, just before the selection was made with a series of interesting tweets including this joke of one:

Shortly after York tweeted and gave Niners fans a heart attack, the pick was made official:

His new teammates welcomed him to the squad immediately after the pick was called, including cornerback Jason Verrett, running back Raheem Mostert and tight end George Kittle:

49ers fans also tweeted out their approval of the eventual franchise quarterback:

According to 49ers.com reporter Keiana Martin, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo asked for Lance’s number right after the announcement in an effort to reach out to the rookie as soon as possible:

Of course, Garoppolo’s slack is quickly getting shorter. He’s missed nearly two full seasons in the last three years due to leg injuries. But, it seems he’s ready to take the rookie under his wing and teach him the head coach Kyle Shanahan offense.

Lance certainly has a lot of upside at 20 years old. The next few months under Garoppolo and Shanahan will be crucial in his development. And while the Niners are taking a gamble on one of the more raw quarterbacks in this year’s draft, Lance’s upside could potentially be off the charts in comparison to the others.

That’s what San Francisco is hoping for.

This is the first time since 2005, back when Alex Smith was taken first overall, the 49ers picked a quarterback in the first round. There’s an obvious culture change around Levi’s Stadium, and taking Lance just proves they’re ready to compete in the NFC starting this year.

We can now take a day or two to appreciate Lance being the third overall selection before starting to place bets on when he gets his first start in 2021.