Trey Lance is generating more trade buzz ahead of next Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft, though it remains a mystery if the Minnesota Vikings are one of the teams reportedly reaching out to the 49ers.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, San Francisco has “received inquiries from several teams looking into a potential trade” for Lance, who was a standout quarterback at Marshall High School in southwestern Minnesota before leading North Dakota State to a national championship in college.
Sources: The #49ers have received inquiries from several teams looking into a potential trade for former No. 3 pick QB Trey Lance. The conversations have been the result of SF fielding the calls, not making them, with teams aware that Brock Purdy is likely the future starter. pic.twitter.com/ddOZjZq5Xn
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 19, 2023
“The 49ers view trading up for Trey Lance as a mistake that they’d like to move on from,” says Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith. “The question is what they could get in a trade for a QB who has done absolutely nothing, but who is talented and only 22 years old.”
While it’s unclear which teams have called the 49ers about Lance, there was apparently some chatter from people in the NFL during the scouting combine about Kirk Cousins being traded to the 49ers, according to Mike Florio of PFT.
“Apparently, at the scouting combine there was some chatter, there was some noise, among people within the broader league structure, not the media, but people in the league about Cousins being traded to the 49ers. That was a hot topic at one point in Indianapolis,” said Florio on April 2.
Coincidentally, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell just released a mock draft filled with trades. It’s playful and entertaining in nature, but he does have the Vikings using the 23rd pick to trade for Lance.
Barnwell’s hypothetical proposal would give the Vikings Lance, a third-round and sixth-round pick from the 49ers and a second-round pick from the Eagles. The 49ers would get the 23rd pick from Minnesota and backup quarterback Nick Mullens, while the Eagles would land two third-round picks from the Eagles and a 2025 fourth-round pick from Minnesota.
Barnwell’s idea gets even juicier as he says “The 49ers would give up on Lance, but they would move forward for now with Mullens, Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold as their options under center before considering a reunion between Cousins and Kyle Shanahan in free agency next year.”
