So watched the Lance plays against the Broncos. He is capable of making some great throws. He had a couple good ones and led the 49ers to the comeback win. He also looks like a really good runner. Not designed stuff but the protection sucked and he was great at scrambling.
Now for the bad. He just never really seemed like he was in a rhythm as a passer. He was constantly scrambling instead of making quick and decisive throws. He can scramble and make some killer throws but it felt like a lot of freelancing. He also threw a pick on a screen that wasn't great. Sometimes as a QB you have to just give up on a screen that is sniffed out. He didn't do that.
Overall his mobility looks pretty stellar and he can make some impressive throws. But he needs work on getting the ball out of his hands quickly and just being decisive with his throws.
Just watched all of his throws from the first two preseason games and my big takeaway is that his pocket presence and footwork is erratic and inconsistent. He's often throwing from off-balance bases because his feet are kind of in conflict on whether he should run or throw for a split second, which is probably what you're saying in terms of decisiveness. His release is also kind of awkward and low, almost a sidearm.
There are some guys who you can just tell by looking at them that the game is moving too quickly and they aren't processing or feeling things quick enough. You can definitely see the talent shine through on some plays but overall he's just inconsistent and raw in maneuvering inside the pocket which leads to most of his breakdowns, although that's expected.
I'm sure the rationale behind the trade is that McCarthy believes he can refine his mechanics and help the talent shine through, which is reasonable to believe since in many ways the guy is effectively a rookie when you look at his path to this point.
Most college QB's attempt about 800-1200 passes in college, this guy threw about 300 or so. He's barely played football since 2019 since NDSU only played one game in the COVID 2020 year, then in 2021 he had a full year as a rookie but obviously didn't play, and then he popped his ACL game 1 of 2022.
He's a bust but in a really different way from a guy like Darnold or Zach Wilson who got plenty of playing time/starts where they were just pure shit and you knew there wasn't much room for improvement. I'm sure if he was forced to play early on he would've looked just as bad, and he's obviously raw as could be, but compared to those guys he was way earlier on in his development curve as a QB given how little he played in college and just never really had much of a chance to develop at the NFL level, so it's almost like a clean slate.
Basically, it's the allure of the unknown.