Happy anniversary, everyone! San Francisco 49ers fans will never forget what happened five years ago on March 26, 2021. That is the day the Niners swung a trade with the Miami Dolphins to move up to the No. 3 spot in the 2021 NFL Draft.
San Francisco ended up selecting quarterback Trey Lance with that pick.
The Niners gave up three first-round picks and a third-round pick to move that far up. It seemed like a lot to give up at the time, but looking back, it truly is insane to think of how much San Francisco gave up to draft a guy who ended up being a complete bust.
If it isn't the biggest draft bust in 49ers history, it is at the very least right up there. Lance ended up throwing 102 regular-season passes for the Niners and completed 56 of them, recording a record of 2-2 in games he started over 2021 and 2022.
The Niners decided to cut bait on him in 2023 once it had become clear that Brock Purdy was the quarterback of the future. Lance was traded to the Dallas Cowboys and only started one game with them. Now, he's a backup for the Los Angeles Chargers and made one start in 2025.
He is at least a backup, but the fact San Francisco gave up so much draft capital to select a guy who so clearly is not at the level of a starting NFL quarterback is just flabbergasting.
Looking back, the right move would have either been to never make the trade at all or select someone else. One fun "alternate history" move to think about is if the 49ers had selected Mac Jones instead of Lance. Jones clearly fit into head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense last season, so maybe if he had been in it from the start of his NFL career, Jones would've had a lot of success. And maybe the Niners would have won a Super Bowl at this point... with a still-drafted Purdy serving as a backup.
Who knows?
As everything played out, the 49ers were incredibly lucky to get Purdy with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. If that doesn't happen, who knows where the Niners would be right now. Would Jimmy Garoppolo still be the quarterback? Maybe Sam Darnold?
It's a lot to think about, but who knew that day in March would have had so many ramifications for San Francisco.
Things turned out alright, but that does not change the fact that it was a pretty awful decision.