49ers had a Justifiable Reason if They Wanted to Keep Trey Lance

And just like that, he's gone.

Trey Lance is no longer with the 49ers after they traded him on Friday to the Cowboys. It was a move that the 49ers felt they had no choice but to make. Dallas came in with an offer that apparently the 49ers could not refuse.

The best offers the 49ers were getting were conditional sixth round picks from team's like the Bills and Ravens, per Dianna Russini of The Athletic. So, in their estimation it was worth the fourth rounder that the Cowboys were offering. The 49ers wanted to strike while the iron was hot, or in this case it was lukewarm. Clearly, no one else was going to give them that for Lance.

The Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens are two teams that had conversations with San Francisco about a possible trade for Trey Lance.
In the NFC, the Detroit Lions also showed interest, per sources.
Most of the early discussions about a trade involved a 6th rounder that…
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 26, 2023

"You'd love to keep a third guy to develop, especially a guy that you really, really love and believe that he could do it someday," said Kyle Shanahan. "But to do that for $7 million over two years with places where you are in the cap when you can't provide those reps and stuff for people. You got other things with our team where we're doing, that to me doesn't make much sense for the Niners. I wish it would because hell yeah, we'd love to just keep him until eventually it works out. "

Shanahan says the 49ers would've loved to keep him as the No. 3 quarterback, yet they traded him anyway. How does that make sense? Yes, he cites it is partly because of his cost and wanting to do right by him. Having a player with Lance's salary who’s the No. 3 quarterback isn't optimal. My issue here is that retaining Lance was very justifiable. The 49ers just had a season where they lost not one, not two, not three, but FOUR quarterbacks in the same season. That’s unheard of. You would think a team that is “all in” would put contingencies at a position that ruined them last year.

Although, the position has actually been ruining them every year under Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers ultimately chose not to keep him despite how their seasons have turned out with the quarterback letting them down. Maybe they just view last year as an outlier with four quarterbacks getting injured and that it won’t happen again. But you would think that would’ve been the ultimate justification for keeping Lance and thus having adequate quarterback depth.

And it's not like the 49ers had Lance's best interests in mind anyway. He goes from one team with Super Bowl aspirations to another. Of course, things can always change with Lance in Dallas. Perhaps the Cowboys actually try to work with him. But I really don't believe that they had Lance's best interest in mind. Ultimately, the 49ers view Brandon Allen as the better No. 3 quarterback than Lance.

Cost plays a part in their logic, but again, if you are true to your word about being a “Super Bowl or bust” team, then the cost doesn't mean a thing for this one season. It can't be so much that it's a "cut your losses" situation either with Lance because he is still a variable with a tentative arrow pointing up. But apparently, the 49ers didn't care about that and are good with the draft pick they received and with Lance's salary off the books.

I guess we’ll see if it’ll pay off for the 49ers.