After the 49ers sent Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys this summer, the young quarterback reportedly almost became another NFL team's trade target this past week.
A devastating Achilles injury to Kirk Cousins last Sunday left the Minnesota Vikings weighing their options under center, and the team briefly discussed calling the Cowboys to trade for Lance, The Athletic's Diana Russini reported Saturday.
The Vikings ultimately traded a sixth-round draft pick to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for Josh Dobbs. Per Russini, Minnesota's goal in trading for someone to take Cousins' place was to "minimize the impact on their team-building beyond 2023."
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Lance likely would have cost more than a sixth-round pick, considering Dallas surrendered a fourth-round pick to acquire the young signal-caller from San Francisco.
It's no surprise Minnesota reportedly thought of Lance first thing -- NBC Sports' Mike Florio reported in April, citing a league source, that the Vikings and 49ers discussed a Lance trade at this year's NFL Scouting Combine.
After those reported talks clearly didn't pan out, Lance went on to lose a training camp battle to back up 49ers starter Brock Purdy. When Lance was told veteran Sam Darnold would be the team's No. 2 quarterback moving forward, the 23-year-old asked San Francisco to find an opportunity for him elsewhere and he was traded to Dallas at the end of August.
While two trades in one season wouldn't have been easy on Lance, Minnesota could have been an intriguing landing spot for the former No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. After dealing with a rash of injuries across his first two seasons in the league, Lance has yet to see significant playing time -- and his ceiling remains unclear.
San Francisco 49ers
Just as he was with the 49ers, Lance still is QB3 as a Cowboy behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush with no signs of Dallas making any changes to the depth chart. A fresh start with a chance to see significant playing time in Minnesota would have been a much better situation for Lance, but it looks like the Vikings only made it as far as kicking the tires on a potential deal.