What NFL Execs Believe 49ers Can Land In Return For Trey Lance

The San Francisco 49ers have backed themselves into a corner when it comes to quarterback Trey Lance.

Seen as a franchise signal-caller when the 49ers selected him No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, it was reported Wednesday that Lance will be third on San Francisco’s depth chart behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold. With Lance’s steep fall, the 49ers appear to be looking into trading the 23-year-old.

But it’s unclear what the 49ers could receive in return for Lance, and it might not be much.

The Athletic’s Jeff Howe surveyed eight NFL executives to gauge what they believe the 49ers could get back in a trade. Three of them believe the best-case scenario for the 49ers would be getting a third-round pick for Lance, and perhaps an additional late-round choice to sweeten the package. If a team really wanted to get crazy, an executive told Howe the 49ers might be offered a second-rounder.

The remaining executives Howe spoke with weren’t as bullish. They thought a Day 3 draft pick was the most likely outcome in a trade for Lance while a couple are unsure if the 49ers will be able to deal away the quarterback.

Lance still has plenty of upside in his athletic 6-foot-4, 224-pound frame, which could entice teams to pull the trigger on a deal and give up a little more than expected to land him.

Lance has started only four games in his first two NFL seasons, completing 54.9% of his passes for 797 yards to go along with five touchdowns and three interceptions. The North Dakota State product has displayed his dual-threat nature by averaging 4.4 yards per carry.

The Vikings are viewed as a destination for Lance even though Minnesota has a starter firmly entrenched in Kirk Cousins. But with Cousins going into his age-35 season and no viable backups behind him, it could be a good landing spot for Lance.

The 49ers certainly didn’t do themselves any favors with news leaking of Lance’s demotion. Their leverage in a trade situation has vanished and now they will have to do quite the sell job when teams acquire about the third-year pro.

But San Francisco could start with the fact that it was just a season ago that Lance won the 49ers starting quarterback job and held his own before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.

The 49ers’ biggest selling point is the potential Lance still possesses. But it might not be easy for them to get another team to buy into it, since they clearly don’t believe in it anymore.