The 49ers won’t know whether the Trey Lance trade is a success until he sees a couple seasons of full-time action as a starter. However, the 2022 NFL draft marked an early win for San Francisco’s front office in their decision to move up in the 2021 draft to select their potential franchise signal caller.
Lance went third overall in 2021 and was the third QB taken and one of five taken in the first round. The 2022 draft class was widely panned in pre-draft analysis, and the league agreed with those assessments as no QB was selected until the 20th overall pick. Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett was the only QB selected in Round 1, and it took until Round 4 for the fifth QB to be selected this year.
Ultimately how Lance does on the field will determine whether the move was a good one by San Francisco. They had their choice of all but two signal callers in the draft when they selected third overall. The process is hard to argue with though given how this year’s draft shook out.
