Tag: Trey Lance

Brad Holmes refutes any Lions interest in trading for QB Trey Lance

Detroit GM Brad Holmes refutes any Lions interest in trading for QB Trey Lance

In his first official press conference since the NFL draft, Lions GM Brad Holmes refuted any reports that he or the Lions were involved in any of the trade talks surrounding QB Trey Lance. The 49ers traded Lance to the Dallas Cowboys and there were reports linking the Lions to being a potential suitor.

Not so, says Holmes.

“The Trey Lance thing in particular, I never reached out. I never inquired about the player or anything,” Holmes stated.

Holmes continued,

“I think the report was that us and some other teams were like, in that group of being interested. But I never actively pursued the player. I can’t speak to the accuracy of the reports.”

The report from Dianna Russini of The Athletic indicated that the Lions “showed interest” in potentially acquiring the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

How close were the 49ers to drafting Mac Jones over Trey Lance?

How close were the 49ers to selecting Mac Jones in the 2021 NFL draft?

The San Francisco 49ers made a blockbuster trade to acquire quarterback Trey Lance back in April 2021.

They dealt three first-round picks in order to move up and select the former signal-caller out of North Dakota State at No. 3 overall in the NFL draft. San Francisco had reported interest in Mac Jones, who ended up being drafted by the New England Patriots, but they ultimately decided to go with Lance.

It’s a decision some wonder now if the 49ers regret.

Lance’s tenure was disappointing and short-lived in San Francisco. The quarterback recorded 797 total passing yards and five touchdowns in two seasons in the Bay Area. Lance appeared in eight total games, starting in four of them. Brock Purdy ended up taking his spot in San Francisco, which relegated him to a backup role.

Now, nearly a week has passed since Lance was traded to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round draft pick. That has left some to question what could have been, if the 49ers went with Jones instead of Lance.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noted recently that Jones was very much in the forefront of the 49ers’ minds. However, they preferred Lance to run the offense that Kyle Shanahan created.

Here’s what Breer had to say:

The initial decision on who to take at No. 3 came down, indeed, to Lance and Mac Jones. (We can argue the Niners should have considered Justin Fields, but that’s another discussion for another day.) San Francisco made the call to take Lance based in large part on what it would mean for Shanahan’s offense. By 2021, a good percentage of the league was running a form of his offense, which meant defenses were practicing against it. Thus it became important for the Niners to develop it. Jones, of course, could run Shanahan’s offense. Lance could evolve it. And that, in the end, was the biggest differentiator in the decision.

It’s difficult to make a call on the career of either quarterback to this point. Jones is looking to bounce back after a difficult offensive season last year, but he did throw for 3.801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and went to the Pro Bowl as a rookie.

Meanwhile, Lance served as a backup during his rookie year, before being benched for Purdy in 2022.

Both quarterbacks are still young with plenty of room to grow. It’s easy to speculate on what could have been, but it’s difficult to judge what will be moving forward.

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Kyle Shanahan can’t untangle playoff shortcomings from ‘unusual’ 49ers QB situation

Kyle Shanahan can’t avoid the #49ers QB situation’s impact on their lack of a championship:

It wouldn’t be a 49ers offseason in the Kyle Shanahan era without a little bit of drama with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Robin Lundberg called the 49ers’ saga with quarterback Trey Lance a “weird situation.” Shanahan on Wednesday addressed that comment in a press conference.

The 49ers head coach ahead of Wednesday’s practice was asked if he pays attention to comments like Garoppolo’s and if he’s relieved the QB question marks are over for now. His response had three distinct parts that are all worth exploring.

“I mean I try not to pay attention to outside of here,” Shanahan said. “I try to deal with the people in here that I have to deal with. I have felt very good about that.”

Shanahan has never indicated any kind of fracture in his relationship with any player while they’ve been in the building. Even throughout the Garoppolo saga between 2021 and this offseason he, at least publicly, maintained a good relationship with the quarterback.

Next, he talked about Lance’s introductory press availability with Cowboys media.

“I did see Trey,” Shanahan said. “I was happy watching him actually while I was eating lunch with his press conference in Dallas and Trey is as real as it gets and that’s how he talks in here. That’s how he is every day. So, it’s cool to see him handle that the right way and he did seem genuinely kind of happy and I feel he’s in a good position to move on and do better there.”

If the 49ers or Shanahan held any animosity toward Lance it would be entirely their own fault. Lance has handled his entire situation with aplomb and had nothing but good things to say about the 49ers when he met with the media in Dallas. Perhaps that wasn’t the best possible spot the 49ers could’ve sent the young QB, but Lance appears to be happy and Shanahan appears to be happy for him. That’s nice.

Finally, he addressed Garoppolo.

“Jimmy, the comments are the comments,” Shanahan said. “I’m really not concerned about his comments.”

Fair enough! That’s another team’s quarterback making a statement about a 49ers QB room he no longer belongs to. If Shanahan was fretting over something a player on another team said he likely wouldn’t be a head coach for very long.

Shanahan has kept up a good public relationship with Garoppolo, and ripping him now that he’s in another uniform wouldn’t make much sense.

While the head coach might not be concerned about Garoppolo’s comments, the former 49ers QB didn’t say anything that was necessarily wrong. The QB room in Santa Clara has never been particularly stable.

In 2017 there were questions about their long-term options at the position, but then they acquired Garoppolo via trade, he went 5-0 as a starter and earned a long-term contract that offseason.

In 2018 Garoppolo tore his ACL, and in 2019 there was about as much stability as the team has had under center with Garoppolo starting all 16 games and taking the team to the Super Bowl.

Things got weird in 2020 when Garoppolo got hurt twice and the 49ers followed up their trip to the Super Bowl by missing the playoffs.

In 2021 they traded up to No. 3 in the draft to pick Lance, but kept Garoppolo. That entire offseason the conversation was dominated by questions over Lance’s role in the offense.

Then in 2022 Garoppolo wound up restructuring his contract to stay in San Francisco after offseason surgery kept the team from trading him. Lance started the season and got hurt in Week 2. Garoppolo took over and got hurt in Week 13. Then Brock Purdy, the final pick of the draft, stepped in and went undefeated until the NFC championship game when he tore his UCL.

That led to more questions in the 2023 offseason with Purdy’s availability up in the air, Lance’s readiness still in question, and Sam Darnold joining the mix.

It is, without question, unique. Some might call it weird. It’s at least been unstable.

Shanahan was pressed by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. Here’s their exchange via a transcript provided by the 49ers:

Maiocco: “Do you feel any relief? Do you sense that this kind of era of lots of changing is over?”

Shanahan: “The era of changing is, when we got here, we waited 10 weeks and made a trade for a quarterback, played five games and then we made him the highest paid quarterback of all time at the time. Then he played two of the next five years and did really good in those two years. His injuries for three of those five years were legit. It was rough on him, rough on us. Then we made a move to go to a younger quarterback and that’s what we did. We thought he’d be ready in two years and he wasn’t. And now we have a different younger quarterback. So that’s the situation.”

Maiocco: “Jimmy did say it’s been a weird situation over here, obviously it’s not the way you drew it up, but can you acknowledge it?”

Shanahan: “I think anytime you trade up to the third pick in the draft and it doesn’t work out, that’s a weird situation, but that is the situation. So that’s what happened. I don’t think it’s that weird. It’s unusual that it doesn’t work out, but I wouldn’t think that’s weird. I think that’s unusual. What do you think?”

Maiocco: “You look back at Jimmy at the fact that he said goodbye the day after that one season’s over and all the things that happened with him physically, he comes back, he’s on the side field and ends up re-signing and starting and it just seems like it’s been unique.”

Shanahan: “Do you remember why that happened?”

Maiocco: “I remember why everything happened, but I’m just saying it’s been a unique situation.”

Shanahan: “I agree it’s been unique.”

First off, weird and unique mean the same thing so this is a head coach sidestepping a question by trying to cling to semantics that don’t really help his case. Alas, that’s not the point.

This is a tough spot for Shanahan because he’s trying to avoid the negative connotation that comes with “weird,” but it’s ultimately unavoidable. He’s entering his seventh season as the 49ers’ head coach and his two cracks at landing a franchise quarterback have fallen flat. First with Garoppolo and then with Lance. Now the team believes they may have a franchise signal caller who was the final pick in the draft.

Pick a synonym for “weird,” and the 49ers QB situation heading into 2023 has been that over nearly a decade under Shanahan.

Now, from Shanahan’s perspective it’s understandable if he’s frustrated. His huge trade up for Lance fell flat and ended with a concession that led the team to deal him for a fourth-round pick before he could begin his third season. That’s an abject failure from the organization and one Shanahan accepted responsibility for after the team’s preseason finale.

“I will always feel like I let Trey down,” Shanahan said Friday. “I mean, I wanted him to come here. I believe in Trey. I believed in him before we took him and I’m responsible for that.”

Now the team has made its cuts and has started ramping up for the regular-season opener in less than two weeks. They’re also going into the year as a Super Bowl favorite with one of the NFL’s best rosters.

Of course the head coach would rather focus on that than talking about the team’s tumult at the game’s most important position under his watch.

Of course the head coach wants credit for going to back-to-back NFC title games and making the playoffs in three of the last four years after taking over one of the NFL’s most decrepit rosters six seasons ago.

That’s part of the reason this is all so strange though. Typically a team that whiffs on a swing for a franchise quarterback sees a significant downturn. They lose at enough of a rate that the coach gets fired. The 49ers have won through the roller coaster though and given Shanahan a unique level of job security. Surely he’d rather focus on the success than the mistakes.

Unfortunately for Shanahan that’s not how things work in the modern NFL when finding a franchise quarterback is viewed as imperative to winning a championship. For all of Shanahan’s successes as a head coach, he doesn’t have a Lombardi trophy to his name. It’s impossible not to dissociate those two things. Had the team hit on a franchise QB with either Garoppolo or Lance, they might have a championship (or two) now.

Shanahan’s inability to find that player – and with playcalling duties and the personnel power he has the onus does fall on him – has been the biggest reason the 49ers don’t have a championship under his guidance, and that will continue to mar his impressive resumé no matter what word he wants to use to describe the QB situation.

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Lance: Cowboys QB Dak Prescott ‘welcomed me with open arms’ before first practice

From @ToddBrock24f7: The latest addition to the QB room says he’s trying to learn as much as he can from its leader, reveling in his role as the new kid in town.

Trey Lance has had his first practice as a Dallas Cowboy. But despite being a much-ballyhooed Top-3 draft pick just a couple years ago, the 23-year-old is now soaking up his role of the new kid in town.

“Very excited to be here,” he told reporters at The Star on Tuesday. “For me, it’s just learning, taking it one day at a time. Not really trying to look too far forward or anything like that, but really, right now, just kind of be a sponge and learn and enjoy every day.”

It’s been a whirlwind for the Minnesota native, who the Cowboys acquired in a trade with San Francisco late Friday. He completed his physical on Sunday, and he spent Monday meeting coaches and attending meetings. Tuesday saw him at his first practice: trying to learn the offense, the playbook, and his teammates’ names in the middle of an extremely tumultuous cut day.

But the Xs and Os have been the main thing.

“Man, nothing but knowledge in all these meetings,” Lance confirmed. “It’s been awesome for me, it’s been fun. Kind of a breath of fresh air to learn a new offense. Being around the guys these last two days, I feel like I’ve learned so much, just ball.”

Much of Lance’s tutoring will come at the hands of Dak Prescott. Some outside the organization read the Lance trade as some sort of message to Prescott about his long-term job security, but the Minnesota native explained that he and the two-time Pro Bowler are already off to a solid start as teammates.

“He welcomed me with open arms,” Lance said of Prescott. “That meant a lot to me. I know this business is crazy.”

“He’s a guy that’s obviously played at a very high level for a very long time, so nothing but obviously just tons and tons of respect for him, as I think he deserves and gets from across the league. For me, just trying to learn everything I possibly can from him.”

That learning will come in a place that Lance has at least some familiarity with. His quarterback coach works out of Fort Worth, and Lance spent some time there in April, refining his mechanics with Patrick Mahomes.

And while in college at North Dakota State, Lance visited Toyota Stadium in Frisco for the 2020 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game. He led the undefeated Bison to a 28-20 win that day (over James Madison and former Cowboys QB Ben DiNucci) and left as the game’s MVP.

His stats in that game? Just 6-of-10 passing for 72 yards, but Lance was a machine on the ground, rushing 30 times for 166 yards and a score.

“Great memories in Frisco,” he smiled. “Hopefully continue to make more.”

Also on the NDSU team that season was fullback Hunter Luepke, now a Cowboys teammate of Lance’s after himself making the 53-man roster on Tuesday.

A reunion between Lance and Luepke is just part of a total change of scenery that both the Cowboys and Lance hope will pay off for the passer.

“This fresh start, it definitely feels great.”

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Lance had known the writing was on the wall for some time, after injuries and the meteoric rise of Brock Purdy paved the way for his inevitable exit from the 49ers.

He kept his head down and continued working for the team that drafted him third overall in 2021, but he admits that news of his trade came with more than just a sense of relief.

“I really tried to not expect anything one way or another,” Lance told media members, “but I can say that when I heard ‘Cowboys,’ I had a big smile on my face.”

It was- and will continue to be- quite a plot twist in the Trey Lance story. But now he has the opportunity to write a new chapter, in a new setting, with a whole new cast of characters.

“It’s not how I expected it to go; it’s not how I think a lot of people expected it to go,” he said. “But I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I think I’m here for a reason. Regardless of what it is, just want to try to find a way to help the team.”

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Cowboys’ acquisition of Trey Lance will be judged on ability to improve certain traits  

The Cowboys traded for Lance knowing work needed to be done but which skills can be developed and which are more engrained in his DNA? @ReidDHanson explores the data behind improving QB play.

Roster improvement is a 24-7, 365-day task in the NFL. Just days before NFL rosters must be cut down to 53, here the Cowboys are, adding more pieces to the silver and blue puzzle. Sending a fourth-round draft pick to San Francisco, the Cowboys added to their QB depth by acquiring former No. 3 overall pick, Trey Lance.

Only 28 months ago, the 49ers seemingly bet the farm on a young kid from North Dakota State. Packaging three first-round picks and some change, they traded up and drafted who they believed was the perfect QB for Kyle Shanahan’s offensive system.

Lance was coming off a standout 2019 season where he posted 28 touchdown passes, 1,100 rushing yards, zero interceptions and a perfect 16-0 record. His 2020 season was derailed by COVID-19 shutdowns. He was undeveloped as a passer but possessed elite physical traits and a running ability that set him apart from other prospects.

Things rarely unfold as planned in the NFL and that was especially true in this case. After failing to secure even the QB2 spot in training camp, San Francisco decided they’d seen enough.

Dallas hopes a fresh start, reduced expectations and a new voice in his ear is all Lance needs to turnaround his otherwise disappointing career.

What if Trey Lance is actually here to help the Cowboys in 2023?

Many are looking at the Lance acquisition as a down-the-road move, but that doesn’t have to be the case, says @cdpiglet.

There are plenty of positives to the Dallas Cowboys trading for Trey Lance. He is a 6-foot-3, 224-pound quarterback who has plenty of athleticism and had enough potential to be a top-three pick in the 2021 NFL draft. He is also only 23 years old and has only 420 pass snaps combined in his college and professional career. Mike McCarthy has a proven history of developing quarterbacks, and this could be his latest guy.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones might have found an upgrade at the third quarterback spot, one who can push for the backup QB role. In poker there is a term called pot odds; it describes the ratio between the size of the pot and the bet amount. In this case, the pot size represents the talent of Lance, and the size of the bet was a fourth-round pick and a minimal cap hit. That is a bet any poker player would make, and fans of Dallas know that Jones can be a gambler.

Dallas revamped their analytics department in the offseason. Is it possible this trade was about the new director of strategic football operations, John Park, or the new strategic football analyst, Sarah Mallepalle, seeing other ways Lance could impact winning this season? Here is a look at how Lance could impact this team in 2023 and beyond.

Here’s how Patrick Mahomes helped Trey Lance make ‘substantial jump’ this spring

From @ToddBrock24f7: Their mutual QB coach brought the two together to improve Lance’s mechanics and accuracy. His “substantial jump” will now benefit Dallas.

Now that he’s a Dallas Cowboy, Trey Lance is about to graduate into an accelerated quarterback program, getting masters-level tutelage from two-time Pro Bowler and Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Dak Prescott.

Call it a continuation of the invaluable lessons he learned this spring alongside two-time Super Bowl MVP and reigning No. 1 player in the NFL Top 100, Patrick Mahomes.

Lance spent a chunk of April working out- in Dallas, no less- with the former Texas Tech star and their shared quarterbacks coach, Jeff Christensen.

The focus was on Lance’s mechanics, which became an issue after the third overall pick in 2021’s draft broke a finger on this throwing hand during his rookie campaign in San Francisco.

After spending four days figuring out the crux of Lance’s delivery problem, Christensen encouraged him to stand behind Mahomes to watch throws from last year’s passing yards and touchdowns leader.

“I said, ‘Watch this. Watch what he does here,'” Christensen recounted to The Athletic back in May. “It was something I was telling him to do that he wasn’t quite doing. And then he saw Patrick apply it perfectly. And I think that visual buy-in, that mental buy-in, helped him past that mental hump. And to his credit, he just kept getting better.”

Better accuracy, increased spin, shorter delivery time, less arm soreness afterward. Lance’s short time with Mahomes produced all of that; Christensen called every day a “substantial jump.”

But the youngster took away much more than just the nuts and bolts of an improved throwing motion.

“Being able to be around Patrick was awesome,” Lance said during 49ers OTAs. “Just picking his brain, learning about just the type of guy he is, how he spends his free time, offseason, and then more about his in-season schedule as well. … I learned a ton.”

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Christensen brought the two together, he said, because Lance reminded him of the two-time first-team All-Pro in terms of competitiveness and demeanor.

“He really fit right in,” the longtime QB coach said of the 23-year-old North Dakota State product. “Pat really thinks the world of him. He’s just a really good person, conscientious. He wants to be great. And he’s one of the few kids whose actions match his words. He backs it up. He shows up every day, and he wants to learn. And that’s why I teach him.”

Reports out of San Francisco’s training camp pointed to noted improvements over where Lance was one year prior. But 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch both alluded to the team being in “win-now” mode, suggesting that Lance still needs more development.

They believed, apparently, it would require more than they were willing to invest this season.

So now Lance’s ongoing education will enter a new phase with the Cowboys under Prescott.

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Report: Vikings were not in Trey Lance sweepstakes, invested in Jaren Hall

According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, it appears the Vikings weren’t involved in discussions for QB Trey Lance.

As the Trey Lance sweepstakes began to heat up, many believed the Minnesota Vikings would be a potential candidate for him. However, it seems like the Vikings were never truly involved.

Following the Vikings’ preseason finale, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported that the Vikings were “not in on the Trey Lance talks at all yesterday.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell later spoke about rookie quarterback Jaren Hall after his up-and-down performance against the Arizona Cardinals.

“I would definitely like to keep him around…My philosophy when you’re going to draft a quarterback is you pour into him on a daily basis,” O’Connell said. “‘Development’ is a huge word, but I love the fact that we got him as many reps as we did this camp…I feel like Jaren has a really, really good understanding of our offense, where he can grow, where his comfort level can grow, and hopefully hit the ground running the next opportunity he gets…Might not show up stat-sheet wise but I thought it was a real positive day for Jaren.”

The San Francisco 49ers later traded Lance to the Dallas Cowboys a fourth-round selection.

While the Vikings could’ve matched that price, it seems that O’Connell and company are content with their quarterback room as currently constructed.

Report: Lions were in on the Trey Lance trade talks

The Detroit Lions were reportedly included in the Trey Lance trade talks before the 49ers traded him to the Cowboys

Trey Lance is now a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas swooped in and traded a 2024 fourth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

The 49ers had lost interest in further developing Lance, whom they traded multiple picks to acquire in the draft less than three years ago. Lance lost the No. 2 QB spot in San Francisco to journeyman Sam Darnold.

Per one report, the Detroit Lions were at least somewhat involved in the trade discussion with the 49ers surrounding Lance. Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported on the Lions level of involvement.

In her post on X (formerly Twitter), Russini mentioned the Lions “showed interest” in Lance, but did not elaborate beyond that. She also noted that the 49ers desired to trade the quarterback to an AFC team and mentioned the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens as other teams that were involved in the trade discussion.

The Lions were strongly rumored to be interested in Lance as a prospect back in the 2021 draft. That was GM Brad Holmes’ first year in Detroit.

6 Pros and cons of Cowboys trading for QB Trey Lance

The Cowboys have now made three offseason trade acquisitions, all for former first-round picks and all for Day 3 pick collateral. Here’s the upside and downside of the latest. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys dropped a bombshell on Friday night when they traded a fourth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for quarterback Trey Lance. It was a deal that brought opinions from all over social media, football bloggers, and analysts, who are divided over the trade.

There are pros and cons to adding Lance, who was selected third overall in the 2021 draft, and for whom the 49ers traded a boatload of picks to acquire before unloading him at a much cheaper cost. This was the third deal the Cowboys have done this offseason, all for Day 3 draft picks and all for players with first-round draft pedigrees.

Lance has been a source of angst for the 49ers ever since he was drafted, now that tension shifts to the Dallas. Here’s what comes with that territory for the Cowboys with the young signal caller.