When the 49ers moved up from No. 12 to No. 3 in the 2021 NFL Draft to select quarterback Trey Lance, it came with a hefty price tag -- but the thought was that soon, coach Kyle Shanahan would have a multifaceted talent under center who could take his offense to the next level.
Now, with Lance competing alongside Sam Darnold to back up Brock Purdy over two years after the 49ers' trade to acquire the NDSU product, San Francisco is left without the three first-round picks they surrendered in the deal with little to show for the decision.
While the 23-year-old remains skilled and capable, injuries and Purdy's ascension have cut his opportunities short, leading ESPN's Marcus Spears to believe the saga so far could go down in NFL infamy.
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"Look, they've got a terrible situation on their hands with Trey Lance ... This may go down as one of the worst trades in the draft in the history of the NFL," Spears said during "First Take" on Monday. "The fortunate part is Kyle Shanahan has done such a phenomenal job of getting this team ready to play and being so creative offensively that it hasn't shown in the win/loss column. But you lost a lot by going up and getting Trey Lance. ...
"We sat there during the draft and [were] like, 'Why wouldn't you take Justin Fields? Like, why wouldn't you have Justin Fields in this situation after we saw Zach Wilson go?' Some of us even thought that Justin Fields should go beyond Zach Wilson."
The 49ers traded three first-round picks, along with a 2022 third-round pick, to the Miami Dolphins to move up and select Lance. Speculation flew as to whether San Francisco would take Fields, a standout signal-caller from Ohio State (drafted No. 11 by the Chicago Bears), two-time national champion Mac Jones (No. 15 overall, New England Patriots) out of Alabama or Lance, who lacked in college experience but offered enticing raw talent, once consensus Nos. 1 and 2 picks Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Wilson (New York Jets) were off the board.
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The Dolphins since have turned those former 49ers picks into Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb, while San Francisco determines what Lance's future in red and gold might look like. He got off to a slow start in the 49ers' 34-7 preseason loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, but things certainly improved for Lance as the game went on.
And as Spears noted, despite not owning a first-round pick until 2024, the 49ers have done well for themselves in the two seasons since the Lance trade with back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances. And along the way, they took Purdy No. 262 overall in 2022 -- who Shanahan recently referred to as the "real deal" after he won seven straight games last season.
Whether in the Bay or elsewhere, it remains to be seen if Lance will pan out as an NFL starting quarterback -- to no fault of his own -- as he has just three full starts to his name in a 49ers uniform. And as Purdy showed last season, there's no predicting how a prospect will do simply by looking at where they were taken in the draft.
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