Few players in NFL history have cost so much while producing as little as quarterback Trey Lance.
In 2021, the 49ers traded three first-round picks and a third-round pick for the opportunity to draft Lance with the third overall pick. Lance started just two games in his first year and two games in his second year before the 49ers decided to cut their losses and trade him.
In 2023, the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick for Lance. He didn’t play at all that year, and then played only in some meaningless action late in the 2024 season, starting the final game of the season long after the Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention. And now that Lance has played out his four-year rookie contract, the Cowboys are going to let him walk in free agency.
“We took a shot a Trey and wanted to do that,” Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones told the Dallas Morning News. “We think the world of Trey. But us having Dak signed up for the long term, I think he’s probably going to be looking for something different.”
Still, Jones defended giving up a pick for a quarterback with Lance’s talent, saying that it’s hard to find quarterbacks without giving up a lot.
“That’s why we gave a [fourth-round pick] for Trey. It seems like all the quarterbacks, even guys we have in the fourth round, go in the first. They always go so much higher than what you think,” Jones said.
For his career, Lance has completed 56.6 percent of his passes, with five touchdowns and four interceptions, and teams are 2-3 in games he starts. He also has 65 carries for 276 yards and a touchdown. He made $25 million from the 49ers and $6 million from the Cowboys. He’ll hit free agency just hoping some team will give him a chance to make a team as a backup, after four years in which he has never shown anything approaching the ability the 49ers thought he had when they drafted him.
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