Trey Lance
Trey Lance didn't pan out in San Francisco.
The San Francisco 49ers won’t look back fondly on the draft in 2021 after leaping up nine spots in a trade to grab quarterback Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick.
Lance never succeeded as a starter, which gave way to Brock Purdy as the quarterback, and Lance bounced around as a backup since that time. How the 49ers missed with Lance became clearer recently when NFL analyst Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post noted the difference between Lance and the other quarterbacks who also came from one of college football’s biggest signal-caller factories.
In 2021, Lance came out of North Dakota State as a highly-touted, athletic prospect. NDSU has produced four NFL quarterbacks since 2016 and a fifth to come in this year’s draft, which puts the Bison on par with Alabama and Ohio State with the most signal callers in that span. While Lance had a 16-0 season in 2019, his development lacked something the other four gained at NDSU.
“Other than Trey — who was 20 years old when he went into the NFL — all of them have been five-year guys who were a critical part of the team even when they aren’t playing,” former NDSU quarterbacks coach and former NFL quarterback Randy Hedberg told Dunleavy. “If you have a passion to get better and learn, any coach is willing to teach you.”
Former Rival QB Example of Why Trey Lance Left Too Soon
Lance was encouraged to enter the pros after just one season as the starter and only two seasons with the Bison program.
He was the second-highest pick ever from the school, as former Los Angeles Rams backup quarterback Carson Wentz was the first at No. 2 in the 2016 draft with the Philadelphia Eagles. Wentz wasn’t on the recruiting radar to the degree Lance was, and Wentz waited three seasons on the bench before he became the starter in 2014.
Early in his NFL career, Wentz enjoyed significant success as an MVP and candidate in 2017, and he helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl that year. Since then, Wentz has been a starter with two other teams and a viable backup elsewhere.
“Coming in the league, I was almost surprised that there were a lot of things I didn’t have to do as the quarterback,” Wentz told Dunleavy. “To some extent, you get to just play a little bit. My rookie year, I wasn’t named the [Eagles] starter until eight days before the first game, and I hadn’t had a single rep with the 1s until that point.”
Trey Lance’s Lack Of Development Showed
Lance’s development didn’t look as NFL-ready when he joined the 49ers, but the team gave him a chance to be the starter in 2022.
His first start that season ended in an ankle injury, and former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo took over for Lance. Then, Garoppolo went down with an injury, and the Purdy era began.
San Francisco traded Lance to the Dallas Cowboys after the season, and he hardly saw a snap as a backup behind Dak Prescott and former Cowboys backup Cooper Rush. Lance then signed as a backup for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025, and he has played in eight regular season games since 2022 amid only two starts.