The time is now for the San Francisco 49ers to trade Trey Lance. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reservedThe San Francisco 49ers announced ahead of their regular season opener on September 10 that veteran Sam Darnold has beaten out Trey Lance as Brock Purdy’s primary backup quarterback.
Things seemed to be trending in this direction for some time now. Darnold had been taking more reps with the starters during practice. He vastly outplayed Lance in San Francisco’s preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders. That was about the same time head coach Kyle Shanahan noticed Darnold separating himself from his younger counterpart.
“We feel, starting about 10 days ago, Sam (Darnold) really separated himself and we’ve got to keep it real in that way,” Shanahan said on KNBR recently.
After it was initially noted that Darnold would be San Francisco’s primary backup, reports came out that the 49ers were exploring all possibilities relating to the former No. 3 pick from North Dakota State.
Despite this, both Shanahan and John Lynch made it clear that they envision Lance remaining with the 49ers as their emergency quarterback. But it came with a caveat.
„That’s the most likely option,“ Lynch said. „We’re very happy with Trey. The most likely option is that he’s here. If we can find a landing spot for Trey that is a really good one for him and works for our organization, that’s not something that we’d turn a blind eye to.”
By now, the story is well known. San Francisco exhausted two future first-round picks and change to move up to the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The team ultimately selected Lance with that pick. Since then, he’s thrown all of 102 regular season passes. Be it injury or something else, the still-young 23-year-old quarterback has not been given a real opportunity in Northern California.
San Francisco 49ers Must Find A Trade Partner For Trey Lance Lynch touched on it in his most-recent comments. He’s looking at potentially putting Lance in a great situation with another team. According to at least one report, it might not even be about compensation San Francisco receives in a potential trade.
„I think what happens is the 49ers look to see if they can find a home for him. And they’re not looking for very much,” ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on Thursday. “They honestly, truly would like to put him in a situation where he can shine, where he can excel, because they do believe that he’s made improvements.”
That has to be one of the primary goals for the 49ers. They committed to Purdy as their starting quarterback long before training camp opened this summer. Shanahan himself noted that the former seventh-round pick from Iowa State had done enough as a rookie to earn that spot.
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Lance needs reps. He doesn’t need to play the role of scout team and/or emergency quarterback come game days. Entering his third season in the league, we’re far past that point in his development.
It might have been a different regime, but the 49ers did something similar back in 2013. Colin Kaepernick had beaten out Alex Smith for the starting job a season prior. Led by then-general manager Trent Baalke, San Francisco worked with Smith to find an ideal home. He ended up being moved to the Kansas City Chiefs for two second-round picks. I envision something of that ilk happening here soon.
Potential Trey Lance Landing Spot EmergesThe Minnesota Vikings have emerged as a landing spot for Trey Lance. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San … [+] Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesDianna Russini of The Athletic reported recently that the Minnesota Vikings had discussions with San Francisco earlier in the offseason that would’ve have sent Lance back to his native state. Said discussions included Danielle Hunter heading back to the 49ers. Pass rush is an obvious need behind holdout Nick Bosa. So, it does make sense from San Francisco’s perspective.
As for Minnesota, veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins is entering the final year of his contract. The team does not have a young signal caller to potentially take over. Meanwhile, veteran journeyman Nick Mullens — formerly of the 49ers — is Cousins’ primary backup.
There is a belief that something could get done on this end ahead of Week 1. With that said, there are also some financial complexities that come with Lance trade talks. He’s set to count north of $20 million against the cap over the next two seasons. Any team acquiring Lance would also have a decision to make on his option for the 2025 season. It’s in this that the 49ers would likely have to eat a nice chunk of Lance’s remaining contract.
Outside of Minnesota, teams such as the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have come up as possibilities for Lance.
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If the 49ers are willing to swallow a bit of their pride and take less for Lance, the expectation is that he will be traded. Public posturing and company line quotes from the brass in Santa Clara don’t change this fact.
San Francisco made a mistake by selecting Lance. It has not handled the situation well. The time is now for both sides to move on, with Purdy acting as the 49ers’ franchise guy and Lance finding a new start somewhere else.