The San Francisco 49ers have built themselves back into a team with real Super Bowl aspirations, and Brock Purdy sits at the center of it all. But every time the franchise’s recent success comes up, Trey Lance lingers in the background like a mistake nobody can quite erase.
That’s because the Lance pick has now been dragged back into the spotlight in the harshest way possible. CBS Sports’ Mike Renner ranked every first-round NFL Draft pick from 2020 through 2025, and Lance came in last among the 191 players on the list.
Renner didn’t mince words about how San Francisco got here. He said, "John Lynch's late-round wizardry and Kyle Shanahan's play calling have smoothed over an ugly draft track record this decade. Considering what it took to trade up for Trey Lance, his selection goes down as the worst from 2020-25."
The reason Lance stands out isn’t just that he didn’t become the answer at quarterback. Plenty of first-rounders fail to deliver. What makes this one sting is the price the 49ers paid to get him.
San Francisco sent away three first-round picks and a third-round pick to move up for the dual-threat quarterback. Lynch made the bet on an FCS passer with limited experience against top competition, and the decision looks even rougher when you remember who came off the board not long after him: Ja’Marr Chase, Penei Sewell, and Pat Surtain II.
Lance’s time on the field never really got rolling. He appeared in four games for the 49ers from 2021 to 2022, went 2-2 as a starter, and threw five touchdowns against three interceptions. He also showed some value as a runner, averaging more than 4 yards per carry in San Francisco, but that part of his game never fully took hold.
Injuries kept knocking him backward before he could build any momentum. Hand, knee, and ankle issues all cut into his availability and made it nearly impossible for his career to get off the ground in San Francisco.
The 49ers may have avoided being stuck with that outcome for longer than they otherwise would have because of Brock Purdy. With the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, San Francisco found the quarterback who changed everything. When the other quarterbacks ahead of him, including Lance, went down, Purdy got his chance, seized the starting job, and eventually landed a massive contract extension.
So while the 49ers have moved on and Lance is now a backup quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers, the miss still hangs over the franchise. San Francisco has recovered from it, but it can’t fully shake the memory of how costly that swing-and-miss turned out to be.
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