Trey Lance continues to prove the 49ers both right and inexcusably wrong at the same time.
San Francisco made the right move by trading the young quarterback to the Dallas Cowboys for a now-generous fourth-round pick before the 2023 NFL season, but selecting him with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft in the first place was a colossal failure that nine times out of 10 would result in someone getting fired.
Fortunately for the 49ers, they lucked into a potentially historic seventh-round steal one year later with Brock Purdy.
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The 49ers' mistake had been out of sight, out of mind for about a year now since Lance traded one third-string opportunity for another in Dallas. However, it reared its ugly head once again on Saturday.
Lance played every offensive snap in Dallas' 26-19 preseason loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday at AT&T Stadium and showed flashes of the exciting dual-threat ability the 49ers originally saw in him, but threw not one, not two, not three, not four but five interceptions in the game.
You can watch all five interceptions here. If you must ...
San Francisco 49ers
Lance also fumbled twice in the game, but both were recovered by the Cowboys, preventing a potential seven-turnover day. Yikes.
The fourth-year quarterback completed 33 of 49 pass attempts (67 percent) for 323 passing yards and one touchdown through the air in addition to 11 rushing attempts for 90 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Without the five interceptions, 413 all-purpose yards and two total touchdowns would make for an excellent day at the office.
Lance's rushing touchdown also was a thing of beauty.
Perhaps this stat sums up Lance's mixed bag of a preseason best:
While it's not completely surprising a raw FCS quarterback prospect with four combined NFL starts had a game like this, even in the preseason, Lance is in an impossible situation because he still needs an abundance of reps at the professional level that are just not available to him right now. And the reps he does receive place him under a microscope that is counterproductive to any young player's development.
That's not to say Lance couldn't have been a talented starting NFL quarterback, but his unfortunate fall to fringe backup -- maybe at best -- has as much to do with where he was drafted, the situation he joined and the devastating season-ending ankle injury he sustained as San Francisco's starter in 2022 as his actual ability on the field.
Lance finished the 2024 preseason completing 73 of 113 pass attempts (64 percent) with 662 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, five interceptions and 24 carries for 168 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Even for him, his five-pick day was an outlier. One that he unfortunately cannot afford more of if he hopes to remain in the league.