Trey Lance of the San Francisco 49ers warms up during pregame warm ups prior to playing the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium on Aug. 19, 2023, in Santa Clara, Calif.
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
The football insider appeared on Thursday’s episode of “Get Up” to share that not only are the Niners interested in trading Trey Lance, but that the team is approaching things as if the player is a beloved pet they can no longer take care of.
“They honestly, truly would like to put him in a situation where he can shine, where he can excel, because they do believe that he’s made improvements,” Schefter said.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
The problem, the reporter added, is that they’re starting Brock Purdy, and simply like Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen more than Lance. Then he really drove it home.
“They’re looking to put Trey Lance, essentially, up for adoption,” Schefter said. “Who wants to adopt him and put him in a nice home where they’re going to raise him the right way, where he’s going to get some work? … So the 49ers are open to trading him. And they will look to trade him in the next week to somebody that will take him in and give him a nice home and give him an opportunity.”
Putting Schefty’s questionable comparison aside, both Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have mentioned this possibility over the past week. The 49ers have reportedly been shopping Lance all offseason, but the market has been thin. The Niners selected Lance — after trading a king’s ransom worth of picks for the No. 3 slot in 2021 — as a raw athletic prospect with the goal of developing him into something special, but injuries prevented him from getting the meaningful NFL snaps that would get him there.
“We’ll always try to do right for Trey,” Shanahan said Wednesday. “If he’s in a better situation that his heart’s in and something like that, we’re going to make sure to do something that doesn’t hurt him in that.”
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
“As I said, we’re very happy with Trey,” Lynch said Thursday. “That’s probably the most likely option, is that he’s here. If we could find a landing spot for Trey, that is a really good one for him and works for our organization, that’s not something we turn a blind eye to.”
Perhaps this is Lynch and Shanahan acknowledging that the Trey Lance experiment was a mistake. Whatever the case, one thing is certain: They didn’t require any weird pet metaphors to explain themselves.