John Lynch dares to use Trey Lance and Patrick Mahomes in same sentence

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch believes Trey Lance has “that makeup that the great ones do,” hoping he can be the next Patrick Mahomes. 

The one thing Trey Lance currently has over Patrick Mahomes is draft order: Lance was taken with the No. 3 overall pick in 2021, while Mahomes was taken with the No. 10 overall pick in 2017.

Trading up for Mahomes transformed the Chiefs franchise forever, as the team landed a quarterback that would quickly make NFL history and lead the team to a Super Bowl win and two Super Bowl appearances.

Interestingly enough, the team that they defeated for the Lombardi Trophy in 2020 embarked on their own quarterback hunt after the loss. The San Francisco 49ers are expected to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of Trey Lance, and 49ers general manager hopes the team landed the next Mahomes or someone like him.

John Lynch dares to compare the unproven Trey Lance to Patrick Mahomes

While there are benefits to allowing a rookie to develop in their first season, the current trend in the NFL is to allow the rookie battle for the starting job. In the 49ers’ case, Lance did not win out over Garoppolo: if he was the No. 3 pick that he was valued to be, Lance should have won out the way Mac Jones did in New England. However, it’s worth noting that Mahomes himself sat out his 2017 rookie season until the Chiefs moved on from Alex Smith. The next year, he became the first-ever Chiefs player to win NFL MVP.

Lance has yet to fully showcase his potential in the NFL, and his limited collegiate appearances has Lynch and others who scouted him believing in the tape they did see.

With Lance in the locker room for a year now and the franchise placing the team on Lance’s shoulders, it seems that Lynch’s hope is based in something that the rest of the NFL world has yet to fully witness.

Everyone expects to see Lance take over in San Francisco, and while Lynch can hope that he will be like Mahomes or the great 49ers of years past, his absence in Year 1 is an early indication that the young mobile quarterback may not be built like Mahomes or Steve Young.