Ultimately, it came down to what the San Francisco 49ers could get in return for quarterback Trey Lance. The team had received calls from interested teams about the third-year quarterback. However, none of the offers were enticing enough to get a deal done.
That is until the very-interested Dallas Cowboys called.
General manager John Lynch and the Niners ended up shipping Lance, the former No. 3 overall pick, a player for whom they traded significant draft capital, to the Cowboys in exchange for a fourth-round pick. A day earlier, Lynch had said the most likely scenario was that Lance remained on the roster this season.
"Well, I think, as I was speaking then, that was the most likely scenario because we had opened discussions with teams, and there was nothing that would have had us inclined to move him," Lynch said Thursday morning on KNBR's "Murph and Mac" show. "And, in the next 24 hours, things changed. And my point of reference there, with Dallas coming up huge, was as to where it was during the previous 48 hours. So that's what I was speaking to.
"Ultimately ... it had to be right for the organization. We also wanted to do right by Trey. And I think, ultimately, that's what we did, and we moved forward. And like I said then, do we take accountability? I do. Yeah, absolutely. You put that much into a pick, and ultimately, it doesn't work out, you have to."
Trading Lance to a hated NFC rival didn't sit well with a lot of fans, though. Apparently, Lynch was well aware of what the public perception might be.
"Well, as they say, tie goes to the runner," Lynch said. "The tie would have gone to someone else, but it wasn't a tie. ... And there were a couple of teams left at the end, and I told the other team, 'I don't want him to go here,' but that's where he ended up."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.