For weeks it was reported as gospel, and written in NFL mock drafts across the land.
The 49ers were going to take Alabama quarterback Mac Jones.
But then draft day arrived, and momentum was building regarding their apparent interest in Trey Lance. Even the oddsmakers took note, installing Lance as the favorite to go third overall to San Francisco over Jones at the last minute on Thursday.
Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. How did it come together this way?
According to several NFL insiders, the 49ers' switcheroo wasn't a smoke screen or any other kind of gamesmanship intended to throw off rival teams.
In fact, such a ruse would have made little sense for the 49ers -- with quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson all but assured of being the first two picks off the board, the Niners had no incentive to mislead others.
Instead, they apparently had a genuine change of heart about the players.
The Niners were in fact intending to draft Jones third overall when they surrendered three future draft picks to move up from the 12th spot, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Thursday.
But there wasn't a consensus on Jones within the organization, Schefter said on ESPN's "Get Up," and there was a sense that they were growing increasingly fond of Lance. Team brass attended multiple pro day workouts for both players, but was unsure about which player they would take as recently as last weekend, he added.
The Niners' apparent doubts about Jones were shared by many in the media, who questioned the wisdom of mortgaging so much draft capital for a player who was not considered a can't-miss prospect, and likely would be available in the middle or possibly even the late stages of the first round.
San Francisco was reported to have ruled out another blue-chip quarterback, Ohio State's Justin Fields, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. It's not clear why the Niners weren't high on Fields, who was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 10th overall pick.
With Lance off the board and the Fields the next one to go, Jones saw something of a mini-slide, falling from potentially as high as No. 3, all the way down to No. 15 for New England.
Now, Lance, Fields and Jones will forever be linked by the 2021 Draft -- and the long and winding roads they took to their new teams during the draft process.
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