The 49ers' Trade for Trey Lance Was a Gamble That Ended in Disaster

If this is the end, the Lance trade will go down among the worst in NFL history purely by outcome. Because Lance has been more absent than bad, and because the 49ers have been a good team since drafting him, it’s easy to gloss over how much San Francisco lost by using three high picks on a quarterback who has given it 102 pass attempts over two years. Hindsight is not the fairest way to evaluate draft choices, but it is reality, and that reality is pretty brutal for San Francisco. Lance trails all four of the other quarterbacks drafted in the 2021 first round, plus third-round pick Davis Mills, by a margin of over 3,000 passing yards in career production. Zach Wilson has been five times as productive as Lance.

49ers lucky Purdy isn't complete ass. Worst thing is I see 49ers fans defending the front office in this situation by pointing to the team as a whole. 

Their lack of a QB or QB being able to stay healthy with Jimmy G has seriously held them back... though also continued with the new QBs last year.

My biggest surprise is that they traded three 1st round picks and didn't even get a top 2 pick.

Also picking Trey Lance over Justin Fields and Mac Jones. They could of stayed put, saved two 1st round picks and still gotten one of the QBs.

49ers original picks selected 
2021: LB/Edge Micah Parsons
2022: OG Cole Strange 
2023: DT Bryan Bresee 

I think you can say Micah Parsons along would of been better. Or if you want to look at just the Offensive Passing game, then 
2021: QB Mac Jones
2022: WR Watson
2023: TE Musgrave

But 49ers are favored to have a great year even with this potential huge mistake.



 

I loved when SF made the trade. I was sure it wouldn't work out as they planned.