49ERS TRADE QB TREY LANCE TO THE DALLAS COWBOYS FOR A FOURTH ROUND PICK IN 2024
The San Francisco 49ers traded 2021 third overall pick Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys on Friday in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2024, as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.
The news comes just two days after the 49ers announced that they had named Sam Darnold as the backup to starting quarterback, Brock Purdy, and hours before the team played the Los Angeles Chargers in the preseason finale at Levi Stadium. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan had planned to play Lance on the team’s Friday preseason closer but with the trade advancing fast on Friday, the 23-year-old was already a Dallas Cowboy by kickoff.
The compensation in the trade is a fourth-round pick from Dallas, as the Cowboys guaranteed Lance’s $6.25 million in total salary over the next two seasons. Lance is owed $940,000 for the remainder of 2023 and $5.3 million in 2024, all of which remains fully guaranteed. The Cowboys also have the ability to decide on Lance’s fifth-year option for 2025 if he develops and becomes an integral part of their team.
Speaking during the game against the Chargers, Niners General Manager John Lynch said “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 and they came after him. And I think it’s going to 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. This team is ready to win and 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.”
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on Friday that San Francisco began making calls regarding Lance as soon as they knew he wasn’t going to be a part of their plans this season. As per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Lance had requested to be traded on Wednesday and the 49ers discussed potential deals with some teams on Thursday.
Dallas and Minnesota, Lance’s hometown, were great options for the former North Dakota State Bison but the Cowboys separated themselves by offering a fourth-rounder and guaranteeing Lance’s entire rookie contract.
The Marshall native has been paid over $27 million over his three-year career, after signing a four-year, $34.1 million deal in July, 2021. Lance has taken less than 300 snaps and accumulated only 4 starts with the 49ers as injuries hampered his chances of being on the field.
The 6-foot-4, 224-pound quarterback will be the Cowboy’s third-stringer but will get a chance to beat out Cooper Rush and be a potential backup this season or in 2024. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after the team’s 23-12 loss against the Chargers, that Lance desired to have a chance at being a no.2 elsewhere and that the team found more interest than they anticipated.
“He told us that he would like another opportunity to go somewhere where he had a chance to be the No. 2,” said Shanahan. “We thought we got some good deals for him; there was a number of teams involved. To end up getting the fourth was a little better than we anticipated and clears up a lot of money and allows a better situation for him, too…”
“I thought it was time to move on for him and for us… We’d love to just keep him until eventually it works out, but that clock ran out here, and that’s why we had to make a real tough decision, one we didn’t enjoy doing, one we didn’t want to do, but we try to do what we think is best, and this is what we think is best.”
As per Dallas News, the Cowboys informed third-string quarterback Will Grier they’d be releasing him in the next few days following their acquisition of Lance on Friday. Grier will, however, get an opportunity to play Saturday in the team’s preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders as the team will give him a chance to prove himself and hopefully earn a spot with another team.
The intrigue in the trade for the Cowboys despite the fully guaranteed monetary compensation, is Lance’s upside which gives the team a chance at having a strong option at backup quarterback this year or in 2024.
San Francisco traded a huge amount of draft capital to the Miami Dolphins in 2021 in order to move up to third overall to get Trey Lance. The team traded consecutive first round picks in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and a third-round pick in 2022 to move into the top three, A trade that has, in the end, not worked for the North Californian team.
Miami, on the other hand, turned those picks into Jaylen Waddle and linebacker Channing Tindall via the draft, and acquired veterans Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb via trades with the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos.
After an offseason of debate and talks surrounding the 49ers quarterback situation, the direction is now resolved and San Francisco will look into the future with optimism with Brock Purdy, their new face of the franchise. Although Niners fans are still anxious about their quarterback room, especially with Lance getting moved, if the organization can get as much production from Purdy over the next five, or six years as they did in seven games last year, the Bay will be more than fine.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.