Trey Lance has been dealt a rough hand since the 49ers selected him No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, with injuries leaving little time for the young quarterback to fully hone his skills.
And San Francisco, with a star-studded, win-now roster, doesn't exactly have time to kill in 2023 -- especially considering the way Brock Purdy played as starter last season after both Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo went down with broken bones.
It's a situation NBC Sports' Peter King called "sad" on the latest episode of the "49ers Talk" podcast, telling NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco the unknowns about Lance have produced a murky picture of his NFL future, whether that's with the 49ers or another team.
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"If you're [49ers coach] Kyle Shanahan, you want to be fair, but you also have a Super Bowl-ready team right now," King told Maiocco. "And you can’t be experimenting. You don’t know if Trey Lance is your guy -- you just don’t. And so because you don’t know he’s your guy, what are you going to do? You just have to move forward. …
"What’s his next team, if he does go, and even depending on -- five years from now, is Trey Lance even going to be playing football? That’s a question I would have, because we just haven’t seen enough to know anything about what he can do."
Lance has faced heightened media scrutiny on a national scale this preseason as he battles alongside veteran Sam Darnold for the 49ers' backup quarterback role behind Purdy. The 23-year-old has gone from a top draft pick to starter in 2022 to now fighting for his spot on the depth chart -- or the 53-man roster, even.
And despite getting out to a slow start against the Las Vegas Raiders in San Francisco's preseason opener, he followed up his rough outing with a game-winning performance in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 21-20 victory over the Denver Broncos.
San Francisco 49ers
But whether or not Lance will get the chance to prove himself in the regular season remains to be seen, though considering the 49ers' history at the position, it isn't entirely out of the question. In the meantime, the clock is ticking.
"[The] train keeps moving," Maiocco told King. "If you’re not able to get out there and play, the NFL doesn’t stop for anybody, and it’s certainly not going to stop for Trey Lance."