It’s the offseason, which means anything and everything a player says or does will be scrutinized even more than normal. In the worlds of the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers, we have quarterback Trey Lance.
In the wake of the Titans hiring former Niners director of player personnel, Ran Carthon, as their new general manager, the former No. 3 overall pick from 2021 made a social media post that raised some eyebrows.
On Instagram, Lance posted a photo of Carthon to his story, and on it he has fingers crossed emojis, which some are taking as a sign that he’d like to join Carthon in Nashville.
IG story from #49ers QB Trey Lance right after the Ran Carthon to the #Titans news broke🧐🧐🧐👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/lmcZ58dtTZ
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 18, 2023
I’m not sure I’m 100 percent sold yet on this being what many are making it out to be, but let’s have some fun with it just in case.
For starters, the Titans have a major question mark at quarterback.
Ryan Tannehill isn’t sure to be back in 2023, and 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis didn’t exactly instill confidence for his future in his rookie campaign. Adding to that, Carthon didn’t draft him.
In San Fran, the Niners are one of the strongest contenders for a Super Bowl, and that’s despite having a seventh-round rookie under center in Brock Purdy, who is playing surprisingly well, and better than Lance did in his small sample size.
If that continues and Purdy and the Niners accomplish great things, he could become their long-term starter.
If that were to happen, Lance would likely be looking for a new home, and what better new home for him than with a general manager who he apparently likes, and one who knows him well?
Of course, Lance comes with some concerns. We really don’t know how good he’ll be yet thanks to just eight games played (four starts) over two seasons.
Adding to that, he’s coming off a broken ankle and will cost draft capital in a trade, although that price will no doubt come down after the injury, and if the entire league knows the Niners have to trade him should Purdy stick.
While the questions about Lance are certainly valid, there’s no question the upside he possesses as a 22-year-old quarterback who has the potential to be an elite solution at the position for the next decade-plus.
The Lance-Carthon-Titans connection is certainly a logical one to make with all things considered, but at this point it’s just based on pure speculation off a social media post.
Take it with a grain of salt for now, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least intrigued about the possibility of this becoming a reality.
