The 2022 NFL season was supposed to be for Trey Lance to take the reigns as the 49ers quarterback and establish himself as a starter.
However, Lance's opportunity to put himself in the conversation among other young elite signal callers suffered a setback after sustaining a season-ending ankle injury in the 49ers' 27-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Levi's Stadium.
Lance will return for his third year in 2023 and San Francisco will still not know what they have in the 22-year-old. Furthermore, ESPN's NFL analyst Robert Griffin III believes that the injury pushes Lance's development back.
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"It's gut-wrenching for him," Griffin said on "Monday Night Countdown." "It's going to push him back at least two to three years. He's not going to have that valuable on-the-job training that he's supposed to get this season. And when you look at a quarterback like Trey Lance, they always say from year one to year two, that's when they have their biggest jump.
"Well, he hasn't even had year one yet. He hasn't even had his rookie year. So after this injury, the 49ers aren't going to know what they have until at least year four of his career. And that's something that you just didn't want for him because he got so much potential. And I know the 49ers believed in him."
San Francisco invested a lot of draft capital to land the North Dakota State product, with visions of him becoming their franchise quarterback.
In 2021, the 49ers traded the No. 12 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, first-round picks in 2022 and 2023, and a third-round selection in 2022 to the Miami Dolphins to draft Lance.
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With Jimmy Garoppolo's contract expiring after this season and Lance coming off a severe ankle injury along with limited NFL experience, the 49ers will have a decision to make at quarterback heading into the 2023 NFL season.