The San Francisco 49ers finally made it official: Sam Darnold, not Trey Lance, will be QB2 behind Brock Purdy.
Reports from the offseason suggested this was a lock to happen, as Lance — once again — had failed to impress.
This puts both the Niners and the young quarterback in a tough spot.
They seemingly don’t want to give up on him just yet, which is normal, considering they gave up three first-round picks to trade up and get him.
However, it’s becoming more evident by the day that he’s nowhere near what they thought he’d be by now, and they currently have two better options at the quarterback position.
Now, The Athletic’s Diana Russini reports that the Niners even had serious talks about trading him to the Minnesota Vikings in the offseason, but nothing happened.
While the Trey Lance market may be quiet for now, this past spring the 49ers and Vikings had serious conversations about a trade for Lance, but talks fell apart, according to league sources.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 23, 2023
A move to the Vikings would make perfect sense for all parties involved.
Lance is a Minnesota native, and he’s still quite young.
He’d get to learn behind a veteran like Kirk Cousins, who’ll be a free agent at the end of the year.
The Niners, on the other hand, would still get something in return for a guy who may never turn out to be a starting-caliber player.
Lance needs to hit the reset button and that might be impossible in the Bay area.
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