Trade of QB Lance to Dallas looking better all the time
The San Francisco 49ers' trade up to select quarterback Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft was a disaster.
However, the 49ers' trade that sent Lance to the Cowboys in exchange for a fourth-round pick in August? That deal is looking better each day.
Lance was the first of four members of the illfated 2021 QB class to be dealt over the past eight months, and the subsequent trades have made it clear why the 49ers were surprised by Dallas' offer last summer.
On Monday, for example, Jets QB Zach Wilson, the No. 2 pick in 2021, was traded to the Broncos in a late-round pick swap: New York received a 2024 sixth-round pick and Denver received a 2024 seventh-rounder, with the Jets agreeing to pay $2.75 million of Wilson's $5.5 million salary this season.
In March, the Patriots traded QB Mac Jones, the No. 15 pick, and received a 2024 sixth-round pick from the Jaguars. And the Bears traded QB Justin Fields, the No. 11 pick, and received a conditional 2025 sixth-rounder from the Steelers that could become a fourth-round pick depending on Fields' playing time.
Unlike Lance, who had four uneven starts with the 49ers before he was traded, both Jones and Fields have extensive experience and had flashes of promise. Jones threw for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and posted a 92.5 passer rating as a rookie to help lead the Patriots to a playoff berth. Fields rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022, second most by a QB in an NFL season.
After Lance was traded, head coach Kyle Shanahan said the fourthround pick the 49ers received was “a little better than we anticipated.” General manager John Lynch said the initial offers they received weren't “anywhere close” to a fourth-rounder.
This, of course, isn't to suggest the trade came close to offsetting the decision to trade up and draft Lance, a player in whom three first-round picks and a third-rounder were invested. The 49ers are scheduled to make a firstround pick in Thursday's draft, No. 31 overall, which will be their first since 2021 because of the Lance trade. It was a big gamble that failed spectacularly.
“Yeah, we gave up a lot,” Lynch said Monday. “We did it for reasons that we had and motivations. And it didn't work out.”
Still, it appears the fallout will be minimal, even if the 49ers whiff with the No. 135 pick they received for Lance. Lynch noted the selection of QB Brock Purdy with the 262nd and final pick of the 2022 draft is why he and Shanahan have escaped largely unscathed.
“Thank God,” he said, “for Mr. Irrelevant.”