Kyle Shanahan wishes things had worked out differently. He hoped that Trey Lance would have become the San Francisco 49ers' quarterback of the future. Injuries threw a wrench in that plan. The inexperienced quarterback never got an opportunity to receive the valuable reps needed to reach his potential.
The Niners got lucky, though, having Brock Purdy fall into their laps with the last overall pick in last year's draft. Purdy became the starter after injuries to Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, helping guide the team to its second consecutive NFC Championship Game.
"It didn't work the way all of us wanted it to," Shanahan told KNBR's Tom Tolbert and Ray Ratto on Thursday. "And once you realize that, it's time to move on. And we did for us, and we did for him. And I think we're both in a much better position now."
Looking back, does the coach regret the pre-draft trade the 49ers made to acquire a rookie quarterback? With their sights set on either Lance or Mac Jones, San Francisco traded away three first-round picks and a third-rounder to move up to the No. 3 overall pick. Was it a mistake to make such a significant trade without narrowing it down to one player?
"We knew exactly one of two people who we were going to take," Shanahan said. "When you move up and it doesn't work out, definitely that's a mistake. But we did like our decisions when we looked into the two veterans that were available, and we didn't get that. And we knew what way we were going to have to go two years from then. We knew we needed to go up and get a quarterback at that time. We didn't feel we'd be in a position the following year to have that option, one, in the draft and, two, in free agency. And I think that was accurate.
"We ended up having the 29th pick in the draft the year after that and the following year, and that would have been impossible to get up into a high pick to take a rookie quarterback. So that was the reasoning for it, which I do get that, but this is the risk of it. And we took a huge risk that didn't work out in that way. That's why I feel very fortunate that we still have a [quarterback] in a rookie deal."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.