Getty Image / Michael Zagaris
Yesterday, the San Francisco 49ers made an announcement that football fans had been expecting to hear for a while now.
The announcement was that Sam Darnold had won the team’s backup quarterback job and Trey Lance would have to settle for the 3rd spot on the depth chart.
After the announcement was made, it was noted that Trey Lance was not present at the 49ers’ practice yesterday.
It was assumed that Lance missing practice the day it was announced he had officially fallen behind Darnold was not a coincidence.
It turns out that assumption was correct and his absence was actually one that was sanctioned by the team.
After the practice, Kyle Shanahan told the media that the team decided to give Lance the day off to clear his head after getting the disappointing news.
Shanahan on Trey Lance missing practice today:
"Watching how Trey was when he talked, we just thought it was better, 'Hey, take the day off, get away a little bit. Clear your head some. We'll talk later in the afternoon and we'll get you back in here tomorrow.'"
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) August 24, 2023
It’s not a huge surprise that Lance might have needed a little bit of time to get himself together mentally after becoming the team’s 3rd stringer.
After the 49ers made a huge trade to move up and select him 3rd overall just 2 years ago, Lance’s career has not panned out as the franchise expected.
After spending most of his rookie year developing on the bench, he was handed the reigns in year 2, but was injured in his 2nd start.
While he was injured, Brock Purdy stepped up and took his job, leaving little hope that he’d ever be the starting QB for the 49ers.
Now he isn’t even the backup and the trade the 49ers made to get him continues to look worse.
It seems very unlikely that Trey Lance will be a member of the San Francisco 49ers for much longer. The question at this point is really just how much they can actually get in return for him.