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The San Francisco 49ers have officially announced Sam Darnold as the backup quarterback for the upcoming NFL season.
The franchise entered training camp with Brock Purdy, Sam Darnold, and Trey Lance all on the roster, with all three having a chance to be the starter. Purdy, however, was the frontrunner assuming he was healthy to start the season.
Ultimately, Purdy showed up to camp healthy and was named the starting quarterback. The battle was then between Darnold and Lance to be the backup and on Wednesday, San Francisco announced Lance as the starting quarterback.
With Darnold being named the backup quarterback, the San Francisco 49ers could now look to trade Trey Lance. There were reports that the 49ers did receive calls at the Draft to trade Lance.
What a return package for Lance would look like is uncertain, but with Purdy and Darnold ahead of him, his future in San Francisco doesn't look good.
Who might be interested in Trey Lance?
Trey Lance's trade market will be fascinating to watch given he doesn't have much footage on him and he is a developmental quarterback.
Lance could very well turn out to be a very good starting quarterback in the NFL and some QB-needy teams could be interested in him.
On paper, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons could look at Lance to be their franchise quarterback.
Outside of those two teams, some wild card teams could be the Minnesota Vikings given Kirk Cousins has just a year left on his contract. Minnesota doesn't have anyone behind Cousins ready to take over so Lance could be a good fit.
Trey Lance's career
Entering the 2021 NFL Draft, Trey Lance was one of the biggest question marks in the Draft. He barely played in college due to COVID but when he did play, he flashed his potential. In his college career at North Dakota State, he played in just 19 games, starting 17 and threw only 318 passes, completing 208 for 2,947 yards and running for 1,325.
The San Francisco 49ers saw something in Lance and traded up to the third pick in exchange for their first-round picks in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and their third-round pick in 2022.
In his rookie season, Lance was supposed to sit behind Jimmy Garoppolo for a season but did see some action when Garoppolo got hurt, but Lance himself suffered an injury.
In 2022, Trey Lance was named the starting quarterback but in Week 2 suffered a season-ending ankle injury. In total, he has thrown just 102 passes in the NFL and has had his development stalled due to injuries.
After Darnold was named the QB2 for the 49ers, Lance missed the team practice, as speculations continue around his possible exit.
