San Francisco 49ers move on from former third overall pick
The 49ers enter the season with one of the best rosters in football, but just think if they had used the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on somebody other than Trey Lance. Sure, they could have taken Mac Jones and who knows what his trajectory would have been with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, but the 49ers effectively wasted a top-three pick and still have two playoff appearances, one division title, and two NFC Championship Game losses to their name.
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On Friday, the Lance odyssey ended in San Fran, as he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick. The Cowboys will now figure out how Lance, Cooper Rush, and Will Grier slot behind starter Dak Prescott.
As former NFL executive and current VSiN analyst Michael Lombardi succinctly put it, "The 49ers did what most good teams do. They admitted a mistake, cut their losses, and moved on. They clearly were not going to continue to play games. When its time it’s time."
Trey Lance stats and contract
Lance, who, to be fair, suffered a major injury with a broken ankle in Week 2 last season, was set to be the No. 3 QB behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold. Now, he’ll try to see the field in Dallas in the event of a blowout or an injury to Prescott.
Lance has only appeared in eight games and has started four of them. He’s got a 54.9% completion percentage and a 5/3 TD/INT ratio, while also rushing for 235 yards.
Lance makes $940,000 this year and a guaranteed $5.3 million next season and the 49ers will incur around $14 million of dead cap money between this season and next season.
Tim Murray and Shaun King talked about the breaking news on Friday’s edition of VSiN Primetime:
BREAKING NEWS: The #49ers have traded Trey Lance to the #Cowboys for a 4th-round pick @1TimMurray & @realshaunking react to the breaking news and how Lance fits with the Cowboys organization on #VSiNPrimeTIme pic.twitter.com/Fz3hitfrnV
— VSiN (@VSiNLive) August 25, 2023
Lance is not expected to play in the preseason finale for the Cowboys on Saturday night against the Raiders and the 49ers will use Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen in relief in Friday night’s game against the Chargers.
