While a roster move on Monday officially made Trey Lance an NFL Draft bust for the San Francisco 49ers, the team still won the trade that sent him to the Dallas Cowboys.
Three years ago, the 49ers front office felt that the 2021 NFL Draft offered a unique opportunity to get their quarterback of the future. However, since the organization had the 12th overall pick in Round 1, they needed to fork over two future first-round picks to move up to the third spot and select North Dakota State’s Trey Lance.
The organization did not rush the talented young QB. And let him sit and learn for much of his rookie season. But in 2022 they made the bold choice to bench incumbent starter Jimmy Garoppolo and make the former first-round pick their QB1.
Unfortunately, after two mediocre starts an injury ended his season in Week 3. And eventually rookie Brock Purdy would win the starting job with an amazing run at the end of the season and in the playoffs. It made him expendable. So after riding the bench for the first half of the 2023 season, he was shipped off to the Dallas Cowboys before the trade deadline.
Trey Lance stats (Career): 2-2 Record, 797 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 84.5 passer rating
Former 49ers first-rounder Trey Lance fails to win Cowboys backup QB job
The 49ers’ failure was thought to be the Cowboys’ gain. And the hope was that the 24-year-old could be coached up from that point on into potentially being Dak Prescott’s replacement if he did leave in free agency after this season. Well, this week a key decision made those hopes seem like a far-off dream. It also made the 49ers look clever for getting a fourth-round pick for him in November.
Yesterday, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy revealed who would be the team’s backup QB heading into Week 1. And to the surprise of many it won’t be Lance and instead will be undrafted Dallas veteran Cooper Rush.
Rush is a six-year Cowboys veteran and was solid for the team filling in for Prescott in 2022. But the fact that the former first-round pick could not beat out Rush for the backup job officially makes him a 49ers draft bust, but the team is still winners in their trade with Dallas.
