It does not matter that San Francisco 49ers said this week about his desire to keep Lance Treyyou knew the quarterback was gone the moment it was announced sam darnold he had beaten out the third overall pick in the 2021 draft for the backup job. brock purdy.
The only questions were how quickly Lance would be switched and where he would end up. The answers came Friday night when it was reported that Lance was headed to Dallas for a fourth-round pick.
Lance’s landing site is a surprise given that dak prescott is the Cowboys’ starter and has a contract through 2024. Dallas also has one of the best backup quarterbacks in the NFL in Cooper Rush.
The Vikings, who reportedly discussed a spring trade for Lance with San Francisco, had been considered a potential favorite for the 23-year-old from Marshall, Minnesota. That made more sense than Dallas, given the Vikings’ starter. Kirk Cousins He is in the last season of his contract, Nick Mullens is not the long-term solution and Jaren Hall he is an untested fifth-round pick.
Lance, who is two years younger than Hall, is also unproven, but might have been worth it (given the low price) for a team with so much quarterback uncertainty after this season. Adding Lance would have given Vikings coach and chief quarterback evaluator Kevin O’Connell a look at a guy the 49ers thought enough of to trade three first-round picks and a third-round pick. rounds up Miami for the right to select him.
Many are already calling Lance a dud, but there’s still a big unknown in his game. He played just 19 games in three years at NDSU, including one in the COVID-19-impacted 2020 season, and was in just eight games (four starts) in two seasons with San Francisco.
The 49ers gave him the job in 2022, but he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2. Purdy, the final pick of the 2022 draft, finally emerged as the 49ers quarterback of the future and when Lance had problems in the preseason was almost gone.
Perhaps O’Connell had lost interest in Lance, or the Vikings thought the price was too high. That could have applied to the fourth-round pick or the fact that the Niners were unwilling to take more of Lance’s salary. The Cowboys will pay Lance’s guaranteed salaries of $940,000 for 2023 and $5.3 million for 2024, according to ESPN, and then have the right to decide whether to exercise Lance’s fifth-year option for 2025.
As far as the Vikings are concerned, the future of their quarterback situation remains a mystery. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah opted not to try to extend Cousins’ contract in March, and Cousins seemed comfortable with reviewing the situation when free agency opens next year.
Adofo-Mensah has given Vikings fans little to go on when it comes to their strategy for retaining their players. There have been no new deals for the wide receiver. Justin Jefferson or tight end T.J. Hockenson and Pro Bowl pass rusher Danielle Hunter He only got a new contract for this season when he went on hiatus at the start of training camp to protest his low salary for 2023.
So do the Vikings have a plan at quarterback or is Adofo-Mensah in danger of outsmarting himself? The Vikings aren’t going to be bad enough to land a top-three draft pick next April, and if Cousins is gone, it’s hard to believe Hall is ready to step in.
This is not to say that Lance would have been heir apparent, but his presence would have created another option for a team that seems to be in need of some, unless the plan all along was to keep the 35-year-old. Cousins and give him one last big payday.