Trey Lance's Trade Value at Shocking Low Point

When the San Francisco 49ers moved up in the 2021 NFL Draft to select Trey Lance with the No. 3 overall pick, he was thought to be the franchise's quarterback of the future. Well, two years later and that hasn't come to fruition at all. Lance sat out much of his rookie year to learn behind veteran Jimmy Garoppolo.

Lance entered his second season as the full-time starter in Week 1, but that came to a hault when the 22-year-old QB suffered a devastating ankle injury in Week 2, ending his season prematurely.

Now, after the emergence of rookie Brock Purdy, Lance's status in 2023 appears up in the air. Purdy is 7-0 as a starter, including two playoff wins. And with Garoppolo still in the fold, questions have started to pop up regarding a possible Lance trade. However, the 49ers might not like what his value has dropped to.

Trey Lance Trade Value

According to 49ers insider Michael Silver, NFL executives have told him Lance will probably only net a third-round pick.

That's not something you want to hear about the guy you drafted No. 3 overall just two years ago. The fact remains, though, Lance hasn't shown he can be a quarterback in this league yet. That will tank his value as long as he remains a mystery.

Then there's the ankle injury, which is something that could limit Lance in terms of range of motion and stability. That'd be very problematic for a guy people expect to make plays with his legs.

At the price of a third-round pick, the 49ers may have a number of teams calling, but they could get lucky and find one motivated team that really loves him to pay a bit more.

San Fran could just elect to keep Lance and hope he makes a great recovery. However, if Purdy keeps playing at this level, Lance might not win his starting job back, which will only hurt his trade value further.

It's a precarious position the 49ers are in right now, one they certainly couldn't have predicted when Lance was drafted just two years ago.

David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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