26 August 2023 , 17:39
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San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has confirmed that he did not want to trade Trey Lance away, but felt like it was the best move for his career.
Lance has suffered a brutal off-season, losing the starter spot to Brock Purdy before Sam Darnold was named the back-up over him - while also struggling in preseason.
The Nieners had incredibly high hopes for Lance after trading away three first-round picks to select him, but had were essentially forced to deal him away after labelling him as their third-choice quarterback - meaning he'd barely get any reps at practice and would only see the field if the team had two injured quarterbacks.
The Dallas Cowboys agreed a deal with the team, sending just a single future fourth-round draft pick in return.
Speaking after the deal was confirmed, Shanahan stated that he had only agreed to move Lance after he expressed his wishes to play elsewhere.
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He told reporters: "When we told Trey that he wasn’t the two, I said we’d like to keep him here as the three, but we also want to do what’s good for him too, and we’ll see how this plays out.
"Trey and I talked, we talked about all the situations going forward. I told him how much I’d still want him to [be] here to be the three and things like that.
"We looked into other teams and he told us that he would like another opportunity to go somewhere where we had a chance to be the two, we thought we got some good deals for him.
Shanahan explained he did not want to trade Lance"I also told him that what I think is best for Trey, I do think Trey needs an opportunity to play more. The opportunities he’s had here, when he has had those two opportunities, he’s gotten hurt in both of them and kind of missed that window a little bit. Gave an opportunity for someone else to do it."
Shanahan then stated that they did not even expect to receive a fourth-round pick on Lance, despite them using a third-overall pick on him just two years ago.
"There’s a number of teams involved to end up getting the fourth was a little better than we anticipated and clears up a lot of money and allows a better situation for him too."
Lance became aware of interest in him, likely preferring to go to a team where he'd be the back-up quarterback rather than competing for a spot.
But he will have had no leverage in deciding where he went, with the Cowboys sending the highest offer of a fourth-round pick.
Dallas will likely use Lance as their backup to Dak Prescott, though Cooper Rush could remain in the mix for that duty. Rush has played 16 games filling in for Prescott since 2017.