Former NFL GM thinks NFC East team will trade up for Trey Lance

The NFL Draft dominos are starting to fall, and one former NFL GM thinks Trey Lance will wind up in the NFC East. 

Coming of winning the NFC East last year, the Washington Football Team is not in position to get one of the top quarterback prospects with the 19th pick in the draft later this month. Trading up is definitely an option though.

According to former NFL executive and ex-Browns GM Michael Lombardi, that’s just what Washington will do with their eye on a particular prospect.

Lombardi professed that he “KNOWS” Washington loves North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance, and his belief is they’re willing to go get him. With the first three picks spoken for, and all but sure to be quarterbacks, Washington’s target for a trade up would probably be the No. 4 pick, currently owned by the Atlanta Falcons. The San Francisco 49ers moved up aggressively to No. 3, and they surely have their eye on Mac Jones or Justin Fields.

Should Washington tab Trey Lance as their quarterback of the future?

Lance is the latest in line of quarterback prospects out of North Dakota State, following Carson Wentz and Easton Stick. The postponed FCS season in 2020 led to him playing just one game last fall, a showcase game against Central Arkansas where he didn’t look great. He made 17 college starts, with one full season as the starter in 2019. He threw for 2,786 yards (66.9 percent completion rate) with 28 touchdowns and zero interceptions that year, along with 1,100 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground.

Washington re-signed Taylor Heinicke, who started last season’s playoff game. They also, more interestingly, signed Ryan Fitzpatrick in free agency. But neither is a long-term solution under center, and the fast failure of Dwayne Haskins leaves the franchise going back to the well to find one. On the Thursday edition of his show, Colin Cowherd tried to advance things by saying Washington has a “nightmare” quarterback situation.

There are worse overall quarterback situations in the league than Washington’s, so calling it a nightmare is a reach. But they do need to find their guy for beyond 2021, and with Fitzpatrick in place as a bridge it’s easy to see why they might see Lance as an ideal fit.