The wide receiver class in the 2026 NFL Draft wasn\u2019t expected to be a particularly strong one. However, the early draft process has revealed surprising depth to the position. A whole host of receivers who could at least be niche role players at the NFL level have emerged, providing a good selection of complementary pieces behind the top receivers in the class.<\/p>\n
North Dakota State wide receiver Bryce Lance (the younger brother of quarterback Trey Lance) offers intriguing blend of length and athleticism. He was largely under the radar playing at the FCS level, but also averaged 21.2 yards per catch this year.<\/p>\n
Could Lance be an option for the New York Giants at the top of the second round?<\/p>\n
Prospect: Bryce Lance (5)
Games Watched: vs. Indiana State (2025), vs. South Dakota State (2025), vs. Illinois State (2025
Red Flags: none<\/p>\n
Height: 6-foot-3 (unofficial)
Weight: 205 pounds (unofficial)<\/p>\n
Height and lengthLong speedBall skillsContested catchVertical receiving<\/p>\n
North Dakota\u2019s Bryce Lance is a tall, long, athletic, and tough wide receiving prospect. Lance has a great build for an outside receiver with excellent length at 6-foot-3 and (apparently) long arms.<\/p>\n
His build gives him a sizable catch radius which he pairs with very good long speed. Lance\u2019s long legs eat up yardage when he\u2019s able to run down the field and he\u2019s one of this draft class\u2019 premier deep threats. He also shows good ball skills down the field, locating, tracking, and adjusting to the ball well. Lance is a \u201chands\u201d catcher who extends to pluck the ball out of the air as well as understanding how to use his frame to shield the ball from defenders. He also has very good concentration to make difficult \u201ccircus\u201d catches.<\/p>\n
Lance excels on vertical routes, however he\u2019s also a savvy enough route runner to win in the intermediate or shallow area of the field as well. He does a good job of pressing his routes vertically, allowing him to create some separation on slants or when working back to the ball. He also shows good awareness to find the open field and make himself available on scramble drills.<\/p>\n
Finally, Lance plays with great competitive toughness. He\u2019s an unselfish receiver who\u2019s willing to get his hands dirty as a blocker, playing with good strength and technique on the perimeter. He routinely looks for work when his teammate is the ball carrier and gives good effort to sustain his blocks.<\/p>\n
AgilityQuickness in and out of breaks<\/p>\n
Lance\u2019s primary weakness as a receiver is one he can\u2019t do much about. Lance is a lanky, high-cut athlete with long legs. That does give him considerable speed down the field when he\u2019s able to lengthen his stride, however he also has an inherently high center of gravity.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t appear to have an elite ability to drop his hips and lower his center of gravity at will, which can limit his overall agility. Lance can labor a bit getting in and out of his breaks, needing a couple steps to throttle down, change direction, and then accelerate again. He simply doesn\u2019t appear to have the ability to drop his pads and carry speed through his breaks, or cut sharply. That, in turn, can limit his break angles and what routes should be called for him.<\/p>\n
Lance\u2019s height and limited agility can also compromise his ability to generate yards after the catch in close quarters. He\u2019s a definite YAC threat in space, however he isn\u2019t a natural separator off of sharply breaking routes, limiting his ability to turn north-south after the catch. Likewise, his height means he can be tripped up relatively easily when changing direction or before he can get going after the catch.<\/p>\n
(Lance is the North Dakota State wide receiver wearing number 5 and a sleeve on his left arm.)<\/p>\n
Bryce Lance projects as a starting wide receiver in a vertical offense at the NFL level.<\/p>\n
Lance has tantalizing athletic tools, however his level of competition and some limitations should be noted by teams. He shouldn\u2019t be used in passing attacks that feature a high rate of sharply breaking routes, or routes that don\u2019t take advantage of his speed down the field. Lance doesn\u2019t quite have the agility to truly use the full route tree as a weapon and likely won\u2019t be able to uncover at will on 3 to 5-yard routes.<\/p>\n
He would also likely benefit from starting his career as a \u201cZ\u201d receiver on the outside but lining up off the line of scrimmage. That would limit NFL corners\u2019 ability to press him, giving him more free releases to take advantage of his speed. In the right system, however, Lance has the potential to be real weapon early in his career.<\/p>\n
Does he fit the Giants? Potentially<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wide receiver class in the 2026 NFL Draft wasn\u2019t expected to be a particularly strong one. However,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,1208],"class_list":{"0":"post-752235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-new-york-giants-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116070549074385673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}