Getty Image / Michael Zagaris
It wasn’t all that long ago that Trey Lance was seen as potentially the quarterback with the highest ceiling in his draft class.
He had a lot of unknowns heading into the draft after only playing one game during his last game at North Dakota State, but had shown scouts some things that they obviously liked.
The San Francisco 49ers ended up liking him enough that they traded the 12th pick in the 2021 draft, 2 more 1st rounders, and a 3rd rounder to be able to select him 3rd overall.
Unfortunately, he has made just 4 starts in the 2 years since he was picked, hasn’t looked particularly impressive in those starts, and has seemingly been replaced as the team’s future.
With Brock Purdy now believed to be the team’s starter, Lance’s only chance to be an NFL starter appears to be a trade.
Unfortunately for him, NFL insider Adam Schefter revealed that there was no trade market for Lance this offseason during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show”.
"There was no trade market for Trey Lance and the 49ers didn't have any trade talks with teams..
Brock Purdy if he's healthy is the number one and my guess going into camp is that Sam Darnold has the edge to be number two"@AdamSchefter #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/pIjNIx3RiF
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 21, 2023
To make matters worse for Lance, Schefter also said that Sam Darnold has the edge over Lance to be the 49ers’ backup.
This pick couldn’t have worked out much worse for the 49ers.
Lance essentially cost them 3 1st round picks and just two years later, they might not be able to recover any of that investment.
Things have worked out for them because they seem to have gotten an absolute steal with Brock Purdy, but the Lance pick still has to be seen as a pretty big disappointment for them.
Maybe a trade partner will materialize for Trey Lance at some point in the future, but right now it looks like he might be the NFL’s most notable 3rd string QB.