Rich Eisen Suggests Former 49ers Quarterback Trey Lance Could Be Next Vikings Quarterback

Getty Image / Thearon W. Henderson

When the San Francisco 49ers selected Trey Lance third-overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, he was supposed to be their franchise quarterback for the next decade-plus. That’s not what happened, as they traded him to Dallas for pennies prior to the 2023 season.

Surely not everyone has given up on the talented 23-year-old. His career has been so uneven, but that’s mostly due to injuries and circumstance instead of lack of ability.

Trey Lance has somehow started just five games since his incredible 2019 season at North Dakota State. In that 2019 season, he threw for 2,786 yards, 28 touchdowns and didn’t throw an interception. He added 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground, and shot up draft boards entering his redshirt sophomore campaign in 2021.

But, COVID limited North Dakota State to just one game in the spring of 2021, and Lance started two games at the end of the 2021 NFL season and two at the beginning of the 2022 NFL season.

Since his season-ending ankle injury in Week 2 in 2022, he has not started an NFL game. He was replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo and then Brock Purdy in San Francisco. That led to the 49ers trading him, and he did not play at all this year for the Cowboys.

Someone is surely going to bet on Trey Lance at some point to be their starting quarterback. NFL Network’s Rich Eisen is reporting that team could be the Minnesota Vikings.

Lance is a home-state kid, heralding from Marshall, Minnesota. With Kirk Cousins being a free agent this offseason, it could make sense for the Vikings to go with a player like Lance. If he performs, they now have their quarterback of the future and a hometown here. Teams have definitely made worse moves, that’s for sure.

The most likely scenario is Kirk Cousins coming back. But, if he doesn’t, the guy in Minnesota could be Trey Lance.