49ers potential draft-day trade partners for Trey Lance (if that happens)

49ers Trade Partner No. 3: Minnesota Vikings

Let’s get overly speculative here.

San Francisco likely wouldn’t want to trade within the conference, although it did try to trade with the Packers for Aaron Rodgers last offseason without success. And while Green Bay could be back on the trade radar for the 49ers again in 2022, depending on Rodgers’ future, there’s another NFC North squad that might be a bit more intrigued by trying to acquire Trey Lance.

The Minnesota Vikings are at a crossroads. Likely out of the playoffs this season, head coach Mike Zimmer’s time could be coming to a close, and it’s also possible quarterback Kirk Cousins and his $35 million guaranteed is shown the door this offseason, too.

Still, the Vikings are already projected to be $7-plus million over the 2022 salary cap, meaning any new quarterback acquired would have to be cheap.

Lance’s contract is cheap enough, relatively speaking and in light of Cousins’ current deal.

Minnesota is currently slated to pick 12th in the 2022 NFL Draft, and it holds all of its picks in Rounds 1 through 3. And while the Niners would still likely have to take a loss, even if the Vikings are desperate to completely blow the whole thing up this offseason, there’d be the inevitable storyline of Lance returning to his home state of Minnesota and becoming a fresh figurehead for a Vikings team that truly has lacked one under center for some time now.