The San Francisco 49ers traded three first-round picks to draft quarterback Trey Lance with the third overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Two years later, San Francisco’s exploratory attempt to trade its backup quarterback generated little interest around the league.
Lance, entering his age-23 season, has barely seen the field since being drafted. He’s only attempted 102 passes in his first two seasons, completing fewer than 60 percent of his attempts in just eight games.
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- Trey Lance stats (NFL): 84.5 QB rating, 54.9% completion rate, 235 rush yards, 4.4 ypc
As Lance recovered from season-ending surgery, Brock Purdy emerged as the best 49ers’ starting quarterback since Kyle Shanahan arrived. San Francisco reached the NFC Championship Game, with Purdy establishing himself as the best quarterback on the roster.
Even amid the uncertainty regarding Purdy’s offseason elbow surgery, the 49ers still shopped Lance around the league. San Francisco believed that Purdy would be ready by Week 1 and after signing Sam Darnold, Lance became more expendable. However, a trade never materialized.
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Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, Adam Schefter said that the 49ers couldn’t find any takers for Lance this summer and there wasn’t one instance of trade talks for the former top pick.
San Francisco’s inability to trade Lance can be partially tied to its original investment. The 49ers weren’t going to part with the highly-talented quarterback for a Day 3 pick, especially considering there was still some uncertainty with Purdy.
From the perspective of other NFL teams, trading an early Day 2 pick for Lance was never realistic. While he’s an extremely gifted player, Lance has played in just nine total games in the last three years with the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out most of his final season at North Dakota State.
Ultimately, the 49ers kept him with no other appealing options and he’s favored to serve as Purdy’s backup in 2023. Based on the positive buzz he’s generating this spring, though, it’s possible he could reclaim the starting job at some point.
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