Former Third Overall Pick Signs with Los Angeles Chargers
On April 4th, 2025, the Los Angeles Chargers reached a one-year contract agreement with QB Trey Lance worth up to $6.2 million. Lance has played in 12 career NFL games in four years, scoring six total touchdowns and five interceptions on just 1,000 passing yards. Lance was originally meant to be the future of the 49ers franchise and began his rookie year behind starter Jimmy Garoppolo on the depth chart to begin the season. The dual-threat QB played in a few snaps his rookie year and showed serious potential, but a minor injury and more positional battles derailed the hype that was given to him coming out of North Dakota State University with only 19 collegiate games under his belt.
The 2021 NFL Draft, like many drafts, is filled with early picks that never pan out, followed by future All-Pros and bonafide stars in the next handful of selections. Hindsight is always 20/20, and the 49ers probably regret trading up with the Dolphins to draft Trey Lance third overall. Drafting a QB was probably not the move at all in this draft, with the likes of Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, Kellen Mond, and Davis Mills all taken within the first three rounds of the draft. The only quarterbacks who have achieved a moderate amount of success since being drafted are first-overall pick Trevor Lawrence to the Jaguars and 11th-overall pick Justin Fields to the Chicago Bears. Lawrence signed a contract worth $275 million for five years, making him the highest-paid QB based on annual salary at the time, and Fields just signed a three-year deal to be the starting QB for the New York Jets after the Aaron Rodgers experiment came to a disappointing end. Some notable players that the 49ers could have drafted instead of Lance include the mentioned above Fields, Triple Crown receiver Ja’Marr Chase, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II, or at worst, fill in a hole at running back by drafting Najee Harris, which would later become irrelevant with the trade that brought Christian McCaffrey to the organization.
However, one cannot change the past, and Lance became a member of the 49ers behind Garoppolo. For the 2021 season, Lance would fill in for Garoppolo when the incumbent starter suffered some minor injuries resulting in a modest 600 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions. Despite revealing a lingering finger injury from the previous season, Lance was named the starter over Garoppolo for the 2022 season but was short-lived due to a season-ending ankle injury in Week Two, allowing 2022 Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy to take control of the team, leading them to the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl a year later. Purdy’s success shrunk Lance’s role in San Francisco’s offense to essentially nothing, bringing his time with the 49ers to an end.
Before the start of the 2023 season, Lance was traded to the Dallas Cowboys to be the emergency third quarterback behind starter Dak Prescott, who was clearly going to be the starter, barring any injury, and Cooper Rush. Lance was a healthy scratch for the entirety of the 2023 season, and in 2024, the Cowboys declined the fifth-year option on Lance’s rookie deal, making him a free agent after the season. Lance backed up Cooper Rush, who stepped in after a season-ending injury to Prescott. Lance finished the season with four appearances, 266 yards, and no touchdowns. The hype Lance received during a COVID year at North Dakota State University was clearly inflated and overhyped in a QB draft class that has proven to be underwhelming but will get another chance to prove himself in Los Angeles, competing to backup Justin Herbert against Taylor Heinicke.
