Turns Out the ‘Trey Lance to Vikings’ Fodder Was All False
Leading into the 2023 NFL Draft, oodles of Minnesota Vikings-themed quarterback theories swirled, from drafting Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker at No. 23, trading up the board for a C.J. Stroud or Anthony Richardson, to trading some picks for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance.
None were true.
Turns Out the ‘Trey Lance to Vikings’ Fodder Was All False
Minnesota ultimately drafted Jaren Hall of BYU from Round 5 during the event, and it is unclear if Hall is on tap for future QB1 duty or if he resigns to a backup quarterback fate down the line.
And on the Trey Lance section of Vikings rumors in March and April, well, those were utterly rudderless altogether. They were simply false.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter appeared on The Pat McAfee Show this week and explained, “There really was never a lot of interest in Trey Lance.”
The 49ers drafted Lance in Round 1 of the 2021 NFL Draft after trading the farm to the Miami Dolphins for the draft spot necessary to nab the North Dakota State alumnus.
“For what they gave up and what they’d get back, which is not very much at all, it doesn’t make sense to trade him. There was no trade market, and Kyle Shanahan has said that they didn’t have any trade talks with teams. He’s not going anywhere right now,” Schefter added on The Pat McAfee Show.
San Francisco employs three would-be QB1 types heading into 2023, including Lance — who should start based on his draft stock — Sam Darnold and the upstart Brock Purdy. No one is too sure who will win the training camp and preseason battle for the main gig.
About one week before the 2023 NFL Draft, Pro Football Talk reported, “At this year’s Scouting Combine, there were rumors of a potential Kirk Cousins trade from Minnesota to San Francisco. Those rumors may have come from the reality that the 49ers and Vikings had discussions about another quarterback. Per a league source, the two teams talked about Trey Lance.”
Either Schefter was wrong this week — or PFT’s source had a wire crossed back in April.
As it stands, Kirk Cousins will enter a ‘contract year’ with the Vikings, a first-of-its-kind for the man in purple. Cousins encountered back-to-back franchise-tagged seasons in 2016 and 2017 before joining Minnesota via free agency, so Cousins knows the drill.
Lance’s problem, at the moment, is a lag in playing time. He hasn’t quarterbacked a football team for a full season since 2019. If he doesn’t take off in San Francisco this season, he’ll hope to land a starting gig in 2024, some five years between full-time QB1 duties.
Lance turned 23 in May.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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