One more positive test for the Titans.  None for the Vikings. And on Wednesday, the NFL announces that the game will not be played on Sunday.  They are hoping for Monday. Sunday’s Titans-Steelers game has been postponed as a result of the multiple positive COVID-19 cases affecting the Titans, a league source tells PFT.   The Titans have shut their facility down for the week because of the positive tests, which yesterday included three players and five staff members, and today included a fourth player.   It is unclear when the game will be played. It reportedly will be postponed only a day or two until Monday or Tuesday night, but if more players test positive it could be postponed to later in the season, which would necessitate the juggling of bye weeks.   The Vikings’ game against the Texans is currently still on, as the Vikings have had no positive tests after playing against the Titans.   This is the first time the NFL season has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The league had been testing players daily and maintaining strict health and safety protocols, but those protocols weren’t perfect, and the outbreak within the Titans’ facility should serve as a reminder to the other 31 teams of how vigilant they need to be.   UPDATE 11:30 a.m. ET: The NFL released the following statement: “The Steelers-Titans game, originally scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, will be rescheduled to allow additional time for further daily COVID-19 testing and to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel. Details on the new game date and time on either Monday or Tuesday will be announced as soon as possible.” This before the postponement was announced:   The Tennessee Titans had one additional player test positive for COVID-19, while the latest round of coronavirus testing yielded no positive results for the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL spokesperson told ESPN’s Dan Graziano.   The league found no close contacts with the Titans player whose test came back positive Wednesday, which indicated to the NFL that its isolation procedures are working in this case, the spokesperson said.   The NFL announced Tuesday that three Titans players and five team personnel members tested positive for the coronavirus. The three players — starting nose tackle DaQuan Jones, long-snapper Beau Brinkley and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson — have been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Those who tested positive have been asymptomatic as of Tuesday morning, a source told Graziano.   Although no official decision has been made about the Titans’ game Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Nashville, the NFL wants and intends to have that game played as scheduled, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday. One of the contingency plans to allow for additional testing and contact tracing would be to move the game to Monday night, a source told ESPN.   Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said Wednesday that the team is continuing to prepare to play Sunday.   “We were told during training camp that this could happen. … We were told that there might be a situation that, if you aren’t careful and there were some COVID issues here in Pittsburgh, we might not be able to practice until Friday or Saturday,” Roethlisberger said. “… I don’t want to say it is what it is, but that’s why the plan was put in place to have guys, to be prepared and why so many people, in Pittsburgh and Tennessee too, are being diligent in not going out and being reckless.”   The Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, said Tuesday that they had no positive tests through that morning’s round of testing. The Vikings also closed their team facilities Tuesday. The DB finds it interesting that the Titans Covid positives aren’t in one specific position group. – – – The NFL has shown some flexibility with a Week 3 memo announcing that one shot of a coach without a mask fully covering his mouth and nose will not cost $100,000+.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com: Although the NFL apparently won’t be handing out another round of six-figure fines for non-compliance with COVID-19 protocols, the NFL has reminded its teams that more work needs to be done.   In a September 30 memo to the 32 coaches, a copy of which PFT has obtained, General Managers, team presidents, chief executives, and others, NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent points out that the league saw “significant progress” in Week Three regarding the requirement that coaches and non-player personnel wear face coverings at all times. However, the memo notes that “wearing of protective equipment is not universal, and this lack of compliance creates unnecessary risk to game day participants.”   The memo comes at a time when the league is trying to fully and completely assess the outbreak in Tennessee, and to devise the best plan for proceeding with the Steelers-Titans game scheduled for Sunday.   “We are only through Week 3 of the season,” Vincent writes. “If we are to play and full and uninterrupted season, we all must remain committed to our efforts to mitigate the risk of transmission of the the virus. Inconsistent adherence to health and safety protocols, such as wearing face coverings and observing physical distancing requirements will put the 2020 season at risk.”   The memo also points out that selective or inconsistent compliance can impact fan confidence in the pandemic protocols, and in turn the “competitive fairness and integrity of the NFL season.” That’s a great point; the overriding goal is to get the games played. Periodic outbreaks could create situations in which the games are played under situations that aren’t as fair as they can be for both teams, especially if for example the Steelers are able to practice all week, the Titans aren’t, and they still play on Sunday.   Vincent concludes the memo by reminding teams that discipline can and will be imposed, and that beyond fines there could be suspensions of involved persons and/or the forfeiture of draft choices if game-day protocols are not properly respected. And this from Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com: Ravens coach John Harbaugh was shown on TV during Monday night’s game with his mask lowered below his mouth, yelling at an official whose face was inches away from Harbaugh’s face. Considering that the NFL has already fined several coaches $100,000 for failing to wear masks, that drew plenty of attention.   But Harbaugh says he does his best to follow the mask rules, and doesn’t think it’s realistic to expect him to keep his mask on for an entire game.   “I don’t think there is anybody better than us, me or our staff, from the beginning of the game to the end of the game,” Harbaugh said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “To think in a three-hour heated competitive environment — especially when you’re yelling, that your mask isn’t going to fall down for five to 10 seconds — I don’t think anybody could be held to that standard.”   The NFL has not explained precisely how many times, or for how long, a coach has to lower his mask before he’s fined. But if the league is serious about keeping everyone — including on-field officials — safe from COVID-19, it’s hard to justify Harbaugh getting away with having his mask off while getting in an official’s face.

NFC SOUTH

TAMPA BAY Don’t play WR CHRIS GODWIN on your Fantasy team this week.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com: Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin is going to miss at least one game after suffering a hamstring injury on Sunday.   Godwin’s MRI revealed a mild pull that will keep him out on Sunday against the Chargers, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. After that the Buccaneers play the Bears on Thursday night, and the quick turnaround may force Godwin to miss another game, but he’s likely to return soon after.   Godwin has a team-high 11 catches this season, and the Bucs’ offense will miss him.   Scott Miller, who has been much more involved in the offense this year than he was as a rookie last year, may be the receiver who most benefits from Godwin’s absence.

AFC WEST

DENVER QB BRETT RYPIEN will become the third QB to start for Denver within the span of the first four games.  And BLAKE BORTLES will soon be waiting in the wings.  Jordan Dajani of CBSSports.com: The Denver Broncos are making yet another switch under center, as head coach Vic Fangio announced on Tuesday that Denver will start Brett Rypien at quarterback when the Broncos take on the New York Jets on “Thursday Night Football” this week. Rypien was picked up by Denver after going undrafted in 2019 out of Boise State, and spent much of his rookie season on the Broncos’ practice squad. He is the nephew of former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, who won two Super Bowls and was named Super Bowl MVP with Washington in Super Bowl XXVI.   Rypien got his first game action last week during the Broncos’ 28-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After Jeff Driskel completed 17 of 30 passes for 176 yards, one touchdown and one interception, he was benched by Fangio in the fourth quarter. Rypien completed his first eight passes for a total of 53 yards before throwing an interception.   When Drew Lock went down with a shoulder injury in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Driskel did show some promise as a replacement. He completed 18 of 34 passes for 256 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but kept the Broncos in the game before they ultimately fell, 26-21. Since Driskel is now 1-8 as a starter, Fangio is opting to go with his former practice squad quarterback in primetime against the Jets this week. The Broncos signed Blake Bortles last week, but apparently he is not yet ready to play. Rypien will be the Broncos’ ninth different starting quarterback since Peyton Manning retired after 2015.   Lock is dealing with a bad rotator cuff strain, but could potentially return in Week 5. The Broncos have had horrible luck with injuries this season, but they do get somewhat of a break with the Jets this week.   Rypien actually is one of those guys with amazing success at every level who doesn’t get drafted for some reason.  His body of work is pretty amazing. * Set numerous records for the State of Washington as a 4-year starter at Shadle Park H.S. in Spokane including 13,044 career pass yards and 50 TD passes in one season.  He also was the school’s valedictorian.  He was the 2014 Washington State Player of the Year. * Also a 4-year starter at Boise State with a career record of 40-13.  He holds the Mountain West career record of 13,581 passing yards and was First Team All-Mountain West as a senior. Quarterbacks run in his family, including uncle Mark Rypien, the MVP of Super Bowl 26 and cousin Angela Rypien, a famous QB in the Lingerie Football League.  Brett’s dad Tim Rypien played minor league baseball.

KANSAS CITY QB PATRICK MAHOMES has a baby on the way.  Adam Teicher of ESPN.com: The year 2020 keeps getting better for Patrick Mahomes.   The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and Brittany Matthews, his fiancée, announced on social media Tuesday that they will soon be having a baby. The couple has been together for years and recently became engaged.   Mahomes’ year got off to a great start in January, when he led the Chiefs to their first appearance in the Super Bowl in 50 years. Mahomes then was the MVP of Super Bowl LIV as the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 on Feb. 2.   Mahomes, 25, received the richest contract in U.S. team sports history over the summer when he signed a 10-year extension that could pay him almost $500 million. Mahomes, who grew up in baseball clubhouses going to games with his dad, Pat Mahomes — a major league pitcher for 11 seasons — bought into the ownership group of the Kansas City Royals in July.   Shortly before the start of the season, the quarterback received his Super Bowl championship ring and became engaged on the same day.

LAS VEGAS Those risky Raiders, caught without masks at a masked ball.  Vincent Bonsignore and Michael Scott Davidson of the Las Vegas Journal Review: Several teammates of Raiders tight end Darren Waller showed up Monday night at a gala in Henderson to help raise money for his foundation. The only problem was they were not wearing masks, an oversight that may land them in hot water with the NFL.   The event host, the DragonRidge Country Club, already has been fined $2,000 by the city of Henderson for four violations of the state’s COVID-19 emergency directives. The players are waiting to learn their fate for potential violations of similar NFL regulations.   The event drew a crowd of more than 100, according to an attendee, twice the state limit in effect on Monday of no more than 50 for indoor gatherings. Videos from the gala show several maskless Raiders, including quarterback Derek Carr and tight end Jason Witten, interacting with attendees.   While the Raiders did not officially organize or host the event, they did lend some assistance, according to owner Mark Davis, who donated money for the cause but was not in attendance. Davis said the Raiders are looking into the situation internally.   “We obviously take responsibility for this,” Davis said on Tuesday. “You don’t like seeing this. I don’t know that it’s actually been built into our memories that you have to wear a mask. Our organization takes it very seriously.”   By signing up you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Unsubscribe at any time. Also on Tuesday in Tennessee, a COVID-19 outbreak among three Titans players and five team personnel members forced the NFL to shut down the team’s facility until at least Saturday, putting Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in jeopardy. In addition, the Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, have shut down their facility.   The Las Vegas event was in support of Waller’s foundation, which helps young adults addicted to drugs and alcohol.   In one of the videos from the event, Carr and teammates can be seen talking and visiting with attendees without masks. Waller, according to an attendee, was wearing a mask throughout the event, taking it down only to make a few remarks from the head table.

AFC SOUTH

TENNESSEE The NFL is not in a hurry to postpone Sunday’s game with the Titans, even though the home team can’t practice until at least Saturday.  Adam Schefter: The Tennessee Titans have closed their facilities until Saturday after three players and five team personnel members tested positive for the coronavirus, the NFL announced Tuesday. The three players — starting nose tackle DaQuan Jones, long-snapper Beau Brinkley and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson — have been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. While no official decision has been made about the Titans’ game Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Nashville, the NFL wants and intends to have that game played as scheduled, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. One of the contingency plans to allow for additional testing and contact tracing would be to move the game to Monday night, a source told ESPN. The eight new positive tests for the Titans have been confirmed after additional testing, a source told ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. Those who tested positive have been asymptomatic as of Tuesday morning, a source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano. “This is not unexpected,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote Tuesday to the chief executives and presidents for every team in a memo, which was obtained by ESPN. “There will be players and staff who will test positive during the season.” EDITOR’S PICKS Could the NFL postpone games this weekend? What we know about the Titans’ COVID-19 outbreak Titans OLB coach Bowen in COVID-19 protocol Where each of the 32 NFL teams stands on allowing fans into stadiums The Titans, citing an “abundance of caution,” issued a statement saying they halted in-person work Tuesday. The Minnesota Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, also have closed their facility indefinitely, though the team said there were no positive tests through Tuesday morning.

THIS AND THAT

ALBERT HAYNESWORTH Albert Haynesworth, who once committed assault on an NFL field, is charged in Cleveland, Tennessee with a verbal attack.  The AP: Former Tennessee Titans All-Pro defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth was arrested Monday after he was accused of threatening and yelling at his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.   Cleveland, Tennessee, police officers responded at 4:34 p.m. to a report that Haynesworth was yelling at his ex-girlfriend, according to a statement from the police. The woman told officers Haynesworth had driven there from his home in Franklin, Tennessee, about 160 miles (257 km) away, after making threats to physically harm her and her boyfriend. No physical assault was reported, according to the police statement.   “After being told multiple times to stop yelling and cursing, Haynesworth was taken into custody, charged with domestic assault and disorderly conduct and transported to the Bradley County Justice Center,” the statement reads.   A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said Tuesday that Haynesworth had been released on $1,500 bond. An email to a lawyer who has previously represented Haynesworth was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.   Haynesworth has been receiving dialysis since his kidneys failed. After he revealed the news last summer, Vanderbilt University Medical Center said it had more than 1,000 calls and offers to donate a kidney or ask about the process within a day. However, he has not yet received a transplant.   Haynesworth played 10 seasons in the NFL. He spent his first seven seasons with the Titans, who selected him No. 15 overall in the 2002 draft out of the University of Tennessee. Haynesworth also played for Washington, New England and Tampa Bay.   He was selected as an All-Pro after the 2007 and 2008 seasons and had 30½ sacks in 123 games.   Haynesworth had his greatest season in 2008, when he had 8½ sacks while leading the Titans to a 13-3 record and the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC before they lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional playoffs. Unmentioned is his 5-game suspension in 2006. The 6-foot-6, 320-pound Haynesworth stomped on Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode’s head Sunday, knocking off his helmet, then kicked and stomped his face. Gurode needed 30 stitches to repair the cuts left by the tackle’s cleats, and plans to talk with his family about whether or not to press charges, his agent told Nashville police Monday.   The league suspended Haynesworth for five games — more than twice the length of the previous longest suspension — for flagrant unnecessary roughness. He won’t be paid while he serves the suspension, effective immediately. We assume the above refers to onfield violence, as there have been other longer activities for crimes and gambling.  MYLES GARRETT of the Browns and VONTAZE BURFICT are among those who have had longer suspensions since for on-field activities.

HOLDINNG FREE ZONE Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com sounds concerned by the lack of holding penalties so far: In its entire 100-year history, the NFL has never opened a season on the kind of scoring tear we’ve seen in 2020. Teams are averaging 24.7 offensive points per game during the first three weeks, 16% better than 2019 over the same period, and 22% higher than their average during the previous two decades.   There are a number of theories for the surge, from high-level quarterback play to the coronavirus pandemic-related loss of home-crowd advantage. All have merits. But there is another direct correlation, an inorganic root emanating from the league office. At the direction of its new leadership team, on-field officials have changed the way they enforce penalties — especially offensive holding — in a way that is too dramatic to ignore.   The decision has not only helped offenses, by cutting their penalty yards in half, but it has also led to slightly quicker games and certainly less public discussion about officiating.   Few fans would object to such aesthetics, and you’ve heard no complaints from teams. It’s fair to ask whether the league can or will credibly sustain this effort, and to question where it will lead to as players and coaches test their new boundaries. More than anything, this episode is a stark reminder of how the NFL can manipulate its product without changing a single rule. It is football’s equivalent to juicing the ball, an artificial injection of energy into the game.   ESPN has made multiple requests to interview the NFL’s officiating leadership team about this and other developments during the past few months. All have been declined. But retired referee Walt Anderson, who has effectively taken control of the department as its new senior vice president of training and development, told the league’s website recently that he wants officials focused on “clear and obvious” fouls and not “all of a sudden to start calling the ticky-tack stuff.” Anderson acknowledged that it’s what “the NFL likes and what the audience likes.”   Through the first 48 games of 2020, officials have thrown flags for 95 offensive holding penalties. That’s 59% fewer than in 2019, when they were operating under instructions to increase such penalties, and 45% lower than the previous five-year average. At the same time, flags for defensive pass interference have risen 22% from 2019 to 72, the most through three weeks since at least 2001. Despite the increase in pass interference, the league’s current average of 13.63 flags per game is its lowest through three weeks of a season since 2001.   While NFL players are highly skilled, no reasonable observer would believe that they have changed their blocking styles to such an extent, not after a virtual offseason and without the benefit of a single preseason game. It’s far more likely that officials have changed their standards, similar to previous seasons when they have been asked to focus on other points of emphasis, such as roughing the passer.   “Officials are good soldiers,” ESPN officiating analyst John Parry said. “They hear the message and they perform based on what they’ve been instructed to call. At this level, they are that good. Whatever the marching orders are, that’s how they will officiate.”   NBC officiating analyst Terry McAulay noted one example on Twitter to illustrate the extent to which officials are looking the other way. The video shows how an obvious takedown went uncalled during a touchdown reception by New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara.   It’s unclear why the NFL felt compelled to reorient offensive holding this season. A point of emphasis on certain blocking techniques last season prompted an ugly spike in flags, but it leveled off after Week 2 and didn’t seem to need further adjustment. Scoring certainly hasn’t dropped in recent seasons; two of the NFL’s highest-scoring seasons have occurred in the past four years.   But the NFL has known for a while that it would open its season amid the most crowded sports calendar in its history. The delayed NBA, WNBA and NHL seasons were still underway. Major League Baseball, meanwhile, had returned for an intense, shortened season followed by an expanded postseason.   The NFL also understood that it had put its officiating department through a significant transition that might be better suited to instructions for limiting its flag throwing. In addition to new leadership, it has replaced a total of 11 officials because of retirements, attrition and pandemic opt-outs. The group also lost out on valuable training camp and preseason preparation time, and most crews didn’t meet each other in person until they convened to ride to stadiums for their Week 1 games.   In any case, there can be little debate about public preferences for games that move quicker and maximize scoring. Those goals ranked atop the list of focus groups conducted by the XFL during 2018 and 2019, and were the crux of the nascent league’s on-field philosophy.   According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the non-overtime portions of NFL games this season are finishing 41 seconds sooner than during the same period in 2019. The NFL, which adjusts its time-of-game statistics for weather and other unnatural delays, reports it has shaved 46 seconds off the 2019 number.   Follow the NFL all season long Everything you need this week: • Full schedule » | Standings » • Depth charts for every team » • Transactions » | Injuries » • Football Power Index rankings » More NFL coverage »   There is also a clear connection between offensive penalty totals and the subsequent yards lost, and sustaining drives. Since the start of the 2001 season, it has been twice as difficult to gain a first down on the play after an offensive penalty (19.9%) than on all others (39%). And according to ESPN’s expected points average (EPA) model, the worst plays in football come immediately after a penalty. Their EPA is minus-0.1 per play. And it almost goes without saying that an increase in defensive pass interference calls will help passing as well. In 2020, offenses have gained 33% more penalty yards via pass interference (1,022) than during the first three weeks of 2019 (764).   But why the seemingly random choice to focus on offensive holding? Historically, it is the most frequently-called foul in football. The NFL has been trying to calibrate it for years, beginning in Week 13 of the 2018 season and continuing into the start of the 2019 season. Uncalled holding fouls, moreover, don’t register on the public outrage meter the way uncalled pass interference or roughing the passer penalties do, largely because they go unseen by fans who are watching the ball. A surge in called pass interference calls could generate some public angst, but ultimately it contributes further to point scoring.   In truth, the only risk here is the natural instincts of competitors. Although they don’t get nearly the same public airing as some other analytics, officiating trends are closely monitored by teams. If the red line for a holding call has changed, coaches will notice and instruct their players to adjust accordingly. That would not only mean a higher frequency of blocks that would have been penalized for holding in previous seasons but also an effort to push the standard further. Without a pullback by the officiating department at some point, football games could become wrestling matches.   Until that time, however, the NFL has produced an on-field start that fits all the boxes for modern fans: more scoring, faster pacing and fewer flags.

2021 DRAFT – TREY LANCE More on North Dakota State QB TREY LANCE who has his one-game showcase on Saturday.   Chase Goodbread of NFL.com with an edited long look: An uncomfortable silence filled the car, and the nine-hour drive that wouldn’t reach its Marshall, Minnesota, destination until 3 a.m. had barely begun on an early April evening. In the backseat of a white Dodge Durango, Trey Lance stared out the window as the Windy City blew past him on Interstate 90 and continued getting smaller in his father’s rearview mirror. Hours earlier, it had rained hard enough on the 2017 Elite 11 regional quarterback camp — one of a dozen or so Elite 11 regionals in major markets all over the country — that the event had to be moved to the Chicago Bears’ indoor practice field at Halas Hall.   Fitting weather for a grave disappointment.   Rain continued to fall on the drive home as Lance’s mother gingerly opened dialogue around the edges of what had just happened.   Did you see anyone you knew?   What was your vertical jump?   Each of Trey’s one-word answers invoked the next stretch of silence.   “It was his way of saying, ‘Nothing you can say is going to make me feel better,’ ” Angie Lance said.   Trey, a rising high school senior at the time, had looked forward to the camp since his freshman year, when he quarterbacked an unbeaten JV squad the first time he’d ever run an offense. And why wouldn’t he? A year earlier, in 2016, he’d seen a second straight Elite 11 alum, Jared Goff, go No. 1 overall in the NFL draft, following Jameis Winston, a former Elite 11 co-MVP who went No. 1 in 2015.   Lance’s goal was to be selected as one of 20 or so Elite 11 national finalists, a designation that brings recognition from around the country and an immeasurable amount of exposure for big-time college scholarships. But at the end of the five-hour camp, his spirit sank. Coaches had gathered roughly 60 campers in attendance to announce that Chicago native Quincy Patterson, now at Virginia Tech, was the only quarterback there who would advance as a finalist. Lance’s empty feeling wasn’t a result of being criticized or not throwing the football well; to the contrary, he threw just fine.   No, this perhaps was the only thing worse than not throwing well: he threw well, and nobody cared.   “As you get going into it,” Lance said, “you sense that nobody is really even watching you.”   Elite 11 organizers are transparent about the fact that regional camps aren’t really an open competition to advance as a finalist; high school tape evaluation plays a much larger role in the selections. That wasn’t altogether clear to the Lance family, however, as they drove the nine hours from Minnesota to Chicago thinking this camp could finally be the springboard for recognition that an unheralded kid from a small Minnesota town of 13,500 had been waiting for.   Instead, he felt more anonymous walking out than he did walking in.   Lance lost reps to quarterbacks who skipped the line for extra throws, but it wouldn’t have been like him to do the same. He would later hear that some Elite 11 coaches not only don’t mind the skippers, it’s one way they identify the alphas in the group. Lance threw around 20-to-30 balls in live reps, more than a few campers but fewer than most.   Looking back, he leads with humility.   “I’m not saying I deserved to be a finalist,” Lance said. “There are a ton of quarterbacks there, and I understand how hard it is to narrow it down from the Elite 11’s standpoint. But I didn’t come out of it feeling like I had a shot going into it.”   Shoulder, meet chip.   It wasn’t the first time Lance felt snubbed.   A couple months earlier, Lance visited the University of Minnesota for a recruiting event and was all in to be a Golden Gopher. However, Lance said coach P.J. Fleck, then in his first year with the team, saw him as a safety at the college level. Almost immediately, recruiting services changed his position from QB to ATH. Lance can’t be sure the change happened as a result of Fleck not offering him as a quarterback, but when his designation changed to “athlete” so fast — he noticed it on his ride home from the Twin Cities — how could he not suspect it?   Three years and one magical season at North Dakota State later, the 16-year-old nobody noticed in Chicago now shares top billing with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields — both Elite 11 picks themselves — as underclassmen quarterbacks who, if they choose to enter the 2021 NFL Draft, are likely to command the first-round conversation. So many agents swarmed the Lances in the spring — when talk began that COVID-19 might sink NDSU’s season — that the family assembled a questionnaire for them and built a spreadsheet to weigh their responses.   North Dakota State will play only one game this fall due to COVID-19, on Saturday against Central Arkansas, before attempting a spring season. It will be just the 17th career start for the redshirt sophomore. Although the coronavirus protocols have made live scouting at college games difficult in 2020, Bison officials accommodated every attendance request from the NFL: 23 scouts representing 18 clubs will witness what could be Lance’s final college game.   Finally, people are noticing.   The first time Carlton Lance pulled together the Marshall Middle School Tigers football team in Trey’s eighth-grade year, he asked the players who could throw. Kids, after all, don’t need a coach to tell them which of their friends can sling the best spiral.   Index fingers popped out, all of them pointing at Jake Hess. All of them fell when the coach asked if anyone else wanted to play the position.   “OK, Jake, you’ll be the quarterback,” said Lance, who then turned to his son. “Trey, you’ll be the backup.”   That’s where Trey Lance’s identity as a quarterback began, seven short years ago; a backup because nobody else wanted the job. Trey had previously been a running back, and by all honest accounts, a somewhat chubby one. With no idea he was already thousands of reps behind the brigade of American youth quarterbacks determined to make a career out of the position, he decided to give it a try.   Indeed, almost nothing about Lance’s rearing as a passer resembled what has become the norm for aspiring young quarterbacks. Many of the Elite 11 campers he would later join in Chicago had, from a young age, dutifully bought into the youth quarterback grind: specialization (dropping other sports), traveling for 7-on-7 flag football tournaments, private instruction.   Partly by choice, partly by circumstance, Lance veered from all of that.   Carlton began throwing with Trey in a spacious family backyard that allowed for tosses of up to 30 yards. He’d been a cornerback at Southwest Minnesota State from 1988 through 1991 and played two years in the CFL, but he was no quarterbacks coach. Asked if it was his dad who first taught him to throw, Trey acknowledges it with a grin.   “I guess you could say that,” he said.   While Carlton might not have been a quarterback whisperer when it came to the technique needed for a tight spiral, he knew what frustrated cornerbacks about good passers and how to take advantage of poor ones. As such, Trey’s backyard education in quarterbacking had less to do with how to throw and more to do with how to beat a defense.   Private instruction? He never gave it a thought. Giving up basketball? Forget about it.   The robotic grind of year-round training makes quarterbacks out of kids who were never meant to be one. Lance, by contrast, was a natural.   “The ball just started flying out of his hand, and he could put it wherever I asked him to,” Carlton said. “He started tearing up my hands. I had to get some gloves after a while.”   By the end of his son’s sophomore year at Marshall High, Carlton wanted an objective opinion on Trey’s throwing arm — one he could trust, because, as a dad, he wasn’t sure he trusted his own. He put in a call to Jeff Loots, a friend who had been the quarterback at Southwest Minnesota State when Lance played there. Loots was a record-breaking passer at the school, but wasn’t selected in the 1993 NFL Draft. He ended up playing for a lengthy string of Arena Football League teams. Carlton sent Loots a link to Trey’s highlight video, just a smattering of throws he’d made in the first few games of his prep career. When Loots watched the tape, he saw a 15-year-old whose mechanics were advanced as if he’d been formally trained for years.   Only, he hadn’t.   “I liked the way his feet stepped to the target, the way he transferred his weight properly,” Loots said. “That’s something kids that age struggle with. And he could throw on the move, to his right or left. He still had two years of high school left to go, and it was obvious just watching a few minutes of video that he had what it took to go play somewhere.”   Phoenix Sproles couldn’t find the ball over either shoulder. The throw that gave birth to Trey Lance’s stardom fell from the sky at Target Field in Minneapolis directly over the wide receiver’s head, forcing Sproles to locate the football while looking straight up to make a basket catch, akin to Willie Mays’ famed centerfield grab in the 1954 World Series.   “It hung up in the air forever,” said Sproles, Lance’s roommate and a cousin of former NFL running back Darren Sproles.   When it finally came down with perfect placement into Sproles’ waiting hands for a 47-yard score, Lance had his first career touchdown pass in the 2019 Bison opener against Butler. Head coach Matt Entz stared at one of his assistants with a look that said, “We were right about this guy.”   So began a fabulous redshirt freshman season for Lance, one that was historically noteworthy because he completed it with 28 touchdowns and zero interceptions. In leading NDSU to a 16-0 record and the school’s eighth FCS championship in nine years, he set the NCAA all-divisions record for most pass attempts (287) in a complete season without an interception. His brilliant campaign added intrigue to a growing profile as a draft prospect.   Entz, however, is sensitive to the comparisons between Lance and former NDSU star Carson Wentz — the No. 2 pick of the 2016 draft by the Philadelphia Eagles — that have been percolating since the end of last season.   “I am uneasy with the draft hype because I think it’s a little bit unfair right now to put the pressure of being a first-round guy on a 20-year-old, and when it started, he was really 19,” Entz said. “It’s great for our brand, but I’m more worried about Trey as a person because that’s a lot to handle for a kid that age who’s only [started] 16 games.”   Entz points out that Wentz left NDSU as a five-year college player with plenty of game experience, while Lance has seemingly just arrived. Heck, if he enters the 2021 draft, he wouldn’t even be able to celebrate his selection with a legal beer; he won’t turn 21 until May 9, a couple weeks after the draft. – – – Wentz, Stick and Lance all ran a Bison offensive scheme that bore similarities to a traditional NFL system, and although Wentz and Stick played for former NDSU coach Chris Klieman (now the head man at Kansas State), that hasn’t changed under Entz. According to NDSU quarterbacks coach Randy Hedberg, Lance processed pre-snap looks from the defense remarkably well for a first-year starter, and shares credit with an offensive line that allowed just 13 sacks in 16 games.   “In our system, the quarterback sets the protection on almost every play, which is a little unusual,” Hedberg said. “Our offensive line did a great job, but so did Trey with knowing what protections to call. That helped Carson and Easton transition to the NFL, and it will help Trey.”   Entz and his staff realized quickly after Lance’s arrival in 2018 that he was the program’s future at quarterback. They responded by giving him some first-team practice reps with the starters during a redshirt year, an unusual move as redshirting quarterbacks typically run the scout-team offense. He learned much from Stick, whom Lance credits for turning him into an extremely detailed note-taker. NDSU backup QB Zeb Noland said he witnessed Lance pen 80 thoughts, one for every snap, while breaking down a Central Arkansas game from last year. Lance has also built a relationship with Wentz, who sent him a text of encouragement before every NDSU game last year.   If Lance does indeed enter the 2021 draft, NFL clubs’ evaluations of him will have to stop a little shallow. As a one-year starter whose 2020 fall season was scrapped, except for Saturday’s game, Lance simply doesn’t offer a very deep library of game tapes. That could make investing a first-round selection in him a less-certain proposition.   Still, Lance’s talent has scouts looking beyond his experience.   “If this one-game season is [the end of] his college career, I really doubt he’ll be asked to carry a team as a rookie,” said an area scout for an NFC team. “He’s got all the physical traits teams like and that’s going to drive his draft position. He’s a great college player with a bright future. But throwing a kid that young into an NFL season who didn’t even get to play his last year in college, with one year as an FCS starter, it’s a lot to ask.”   The competitive divide between the FCS and the NFL is a deep one; only six FCS players were selected in the 2020 draft, although that number is more commonly in the teens. A scheduled NDSU game against Oregon this fall would have helped scouts get a better feel for Lance’s ability against tougher competition, but the Pac-12’s July decision to cancel non-conference games wiped out that opportunity. The Ducks would have been the first FBS opponent Lance faced in college. Nevertheless, his skill overrides any concern about competition, just as it did with Wentz, who faced only one FBS opponent (Iowa State) in his NDSU career.   “The number of games he’s played would be more of a concern (than the competition level),” Jeremiah said. “His skill set is easy to identify, I don’t care who he’s playing against or with. But ideally, you’d like a little longer track record.”