On the heels of sending Trey Lance to the Cowboys following a tumultuous two years, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan offered a candid admission on Thursday regarding the club’s feelings on the quarterback’s brief tenure.
Appearing on KNBR 680’s Tolbert & Ratto, Shanahan discussed the ambitious trade that set the Niners up to draft Lance with the No. 3 pick in 2021, saying the move was “definitely a mistake” for both parties based on how things went. He also chalked the deal up as one the team “needed” to make, given the lack of available veteran free-agent QBs.
“When you move up and it doesn’t work out, that’s definitely a mistake,” Shanahan said. “But we did like our decisions when we looked into the two veterans that were available, and we didn’t get that and we knew what way we were going to have to go two years from then. We knew we needed to go up and get a quarterback at that time.”
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Considering how things played out, Shanahan’s remarks are likely shared outside of the organization, despite the club seeming to have found its starter in Brock Purdy, who eventually became QB1 in Week 13 last season. But, while Shanahan didn’t appear bashful about accepting that the club made a mistake, the seventh-year coach also sounded optimistic when looking ahead to Lance and San Francisco’s futures.
“It didn’t work exactly the way all of us wanted it to and once you realize that it’s time to move on, and we did for us and we did for him, and I think we’re both in a much better position now,” he said.
With a fresh start now in the works for both sides, perhaps Lance, whom Dallas landed for a 2024 fourth-round pick, could find a way to resurrect his career as Shanahan and Co. return to the drawing board at QB entering the 2023 campaign.
