Trey Lance’s time with the San Francisco 49ers is now done. And shortly after the former No. 3 pick was traded to the Dallas Cowboys, 49ers general manager John Lynch spoke about the trade.
As San Francisco hosted the Los Angeles Chargers in the preseason finale, Lynch joined 49ers announcers Greg Papa and Tim Ryan to talk about several things, starting with Lance’s trade.
“A really hard day. Such a wonderful young man. We took a shot and it didn’t work out. We own that. We take accountability for it. But I think, as I think you guys do, his story is still very much unwritten. And I’m excited for Trey. Dallas stepped up and really wanted him. They came after him. And I think it’s gonna be a great landing spot for him. I can tell everybody it wasn’t for lack of effort on Trey’s part, or on our part that it didn’t work. Circumstances took hold and he struggled through injuries.”
Lynch then touted San Francisco’s remaining group of quarterbacks, while wishing Lance well in his new home.
“And this team’s ready to win. We like our quarterback room. We like Brock Purdy a lot. We like Sam Darnold and we like Brandon Allen. So we wish Trey all the best in Dallas. We’ll always care about that young man and admire his work ethic and the person that he is.”
49ers GM John Lynch — in the booth — on trading QB Trey Lance to the Cowboys: "We took a shot and it didn't work out. We own that. We take accountability for it… his story is still very much unwritten. I'm excited for Trey. Dallas stepped up and really wanted him." pic.twitter.com/4s6ERBYMNu
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 26, 2023
There’s no question that San Francisco’s return for Lance is far off of what was given to acquire him. The 49ers drafted Lance No. 3 overall in 2021. To acquire that pick, San Francisco parted with their first-round pick that year (No. 12 overall), as well as 2022 and 2023’s first-rounders.
By comparison, in trading Lance, the 49ers received a fourth-round pick from the Cowboys.
Compensation update: Cowboys are sending a fourth-round pick to the 49ers for Trey Lance, per league source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 25, 2023
Lance played sparingly for the 49ers as a rookie in 2021. He started two games for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo but otherwise was a second-stringer only used in blowouts and select packages. Lance entered the 2022 season as the starting quarterback but suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2.
After a season-ending injury from Garoppolo, Purdy took over and led the team to the NFC Championship Game. The injury suffered in that game created some initial doubt about his availability for the start of 2023. But it was clear that, when healthy, Purdy was the starter. San Francisco also signed Sam Darnold in the offseason, who won a training camp battle with Lance for the second-string role.
