49ers news: NFL insider suggests ridiculous Trey Lance trade to Texans

The 49ers may face a tough decision in 2023 with both Brock Purdy and Trey Lance, but trading Lance by the way of this NFL insider’s suggestion is terrible.

It’s almost impossible for any team in the NFL to make a deep playoff push when it’s down to its third-string quarterback.

Yet that’s the situation the San Francisco 49ers find themselves in after losing the second-year pro, Trey Lance, to a season-ending ankle injury way back in Week 2, then losing veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a foot injury in Week 13.

Those combined events gave way to one of the hotter storylines in the league right now, Brock Purdy, the last rookie taken in this year’s NFL Draft.

Purdy, of course, has the Niners playing well. With San Francisco having won all three of Purdy’s starts and him posting an impressive 103.2 passer rating with eight touchdowns thrown against two interceptions, it’s fair to wonder if head coach Kyle Shanahan has found his gem going forward.

And that might not be Lance, whom the 49ers traded away some serious assets to acquire at No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Garoppolo, a free agent next year, is as good as gone if the Niners don’t intend to hand him the starting gig in 2023 if re-signed. That’d leave both Purdy and Lance as the lone options to compete for the QB1 role.

Unless San Francisco decides to trade away Lance, of course.

This NFL insider suggests 49ers trade away Trey Lance on the cheap

Lance has become something of a forgotten commodity toward the tail end of the season.

With only four NFL starts under his belt, Lance hasn’t played a full season at any level since he was back at North Dakota State in 2019. In 2020, the pandemic canceled all but one of the Bison’s games, and then he sat behind Garoppolo for almost all of his rookie season.

Then that ankle injury early in 2022.

Two lost years can be a lifetime in the NFL, so the idea of trading Lance away does carry some weight, particularly if Purdy winds up being a solid starting-caliber option for Shanahan and Co.

And that’s where ESPN’s Dan Graziano (h/t Bleacher Report) starts off with his suggestion of the 49ers trading Lance away to the Houston Texans, a team with its own quarterbacking problems:

"If the 49ers get to the Super Bowl with Brock Purdy, they’re going to be tempted to run it back with him. Getting something in return for Lance as he heads into the third year of his rookie contract would make sense, even if it’s far, far, far less than they gave up to get him in the first place."

Read More: Trey Lance, entire 2021 quarterback draft class has underwhelmed

Yes, Graziano’s first assessment about the Niners continuing with Purdy in 2023 makes plenty of sense, provided the rookie somehow plays well enough to help San Francisco reach the Super Bowl.

However, Graziano suggested the trade would involve Houston’s second-round pick.

That’s where things get a lot more laughable.

Sure, the 49ers aren’t going to command anything close to what they gave up to get Lance back in 2021, provided they decide to trade him. But, with Garoppolo likely gone, why would the Niners be inclined to trade Lance anyway?

The two quarterbacks’ combined salaries for 2023 will be roughly $10.1 million, and Lance’s cap hit accounts for $9.3 million of that, according to Over the Cap.

For reference, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota will make $14.5 million that year.

If a single second-round pick is all San Francisco can get for Lance at this point, why not just let the two young quarterbacks compete for the starting gig during the offseason? Cost isn’t an issue, and the 49ers would at least be pushing both signal-callers to be better than the other.

That’d be a superior option to trading Lance away on the cheap.