The 2021 NFL Draft quarterback prospect spotlight will shift to Trey Lance on Monday, and the New England Patriots will have a front-row seat.
The Patriots will have representatives at Lance's second North Dakota State pro day on Monday, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reports. They'll be joined by staffers of the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, per Breer.
New England has the lowest pick of that quartet at No. 15 overall -- San Francisco is at No. 3, Atlanta is at No. 4 and Denver is at No. 9 -- so if the Patriots are serious about taking Lance, they may have to trade up to land him.
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If you're gauging their interest based on who they're sending to Fargo, Breer reports that Patriots assistant director of player personnel Dave Ziegler and front office executive Eliot Wolf will be in attendance, while offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and head coach Bill Belichick won't be present.
Belichick attended Alabama QB Mac Jones' pro day last month and McDaniels was at Justin Fields' second pro day for Ohio State. So, the fact that neither will watch Lance in person could mean A) they trust Ziegler and Wolf to give Lance a proper evaluation, B) they've seen what they need to see from the 20-year-old QB, or C) they're less interested in Lance than the other top QBs.
Lance played just one game in 2020 due to COVID-19 so there's not much recent film on him, but he has plenty of upside as a dual-threat QB who rushed for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2019.
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It appears the 49ers could have interest in that skill set: While San Francisco reportedly covets Jones, the team is sending head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch to watch Lance and will be "extremely involved" in his workout, per ESPN's Dan Graziano.
The NFL Draft is less than two weeks away on April 29, so we'll find out soon enough which teams had serious interest in Lance, and who was just posturing.