NFL insider Tom Pelissero, along with Ian Rapoport, broke the news that the San Francisco 49ers were going with Sam Darnold as their No. 2 quarterback and looking into their options with Trey Lance. "Options," meaning potentially trading the former No. 3 overall pick.
While Lance has shown progress during training camp, it wasn't enough to beat out Darnold, who joined the 49ers as a free agent in March. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has been a fan of the veteran quarterback since doing his homework on him leading to the 2018 NFL Draft. The 49ers were also interested in Darnold in 2021 until the New York Jets traded him to the Carolina Panthers.
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Now, with a roster ready to compete (once again) for a Super Bowl, the 49ers feel better about having the more experienced Darnold backing up starter Brock Purdy.
That leaves Lance's future in limbo. The Niners insist they would love to keep him around but aren't closing the door on potentially trading him either. Pelissero, speaking with Rich Eisen, believes there are a lot of teams looking back at their pre-draft evaluations of Lance to see if it's worth moving to acquire him at a cut-rate price.
"There will be a market," Pelissero told Eisen. "I'm in Minnesota today. This would be a logical place. Kirk Cousins' contract is up after the season. They drafted Jaren Hall in the seventh round. They've got Nick Mullens here. But they don't have that high-end, talent, developmental type of quarterback. So a team like this, I would think, would be certainly interested in Trey Lance, and I would anticipate there's other teams in that same direction.
"Now, what's the price tag on a Trey Lance trade? It's such a unique situation because it's not like this has been a Zach Wilson-style flameout. We literally haven't seen Tray Lance on the field but for ... four starts in his career. ... I mean, he's barely played football. So you're really figuring out, okay, if you had a first-round grade on him two years ago, what are you willing to put down now?
"Nobody's going to give up a first-round pick, I wouldn't anticipate, for Trey Lance, but is it a day-two style pick with an extra conditional pick or something like that? That would probably be a fair type of a deal. But again, the fact that a new team would also be taking on guaranteed money is a factor. You have to consider that into the price tag as well."