During the build up to the 2021 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers made a huge move to trade three draft picks to trade up to the third overall pick.
In that draft class, it was pretty much known early on that the Jacksonville Jaguars would be taking Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick, with the New York Jets eyeing Zach Wilson with the second.
That left three other highly-touted quarterbacks available, in Justin Fields, Mac Jones and Trey Lance.
All the speculation had been that the Niners would be trading up to select Jones, who had just come off the back of a National Championship title with Alabama, proving himself to be an accurate passer - something that Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan needs from his quarterback in his scheme.
As the story goes, though, the Niners had their heads turned by Lance, and selected him due to his rushing ability and explosive, but unproven, traits.
In his two years with the team, Lance has twice been the second-choice, behind both Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy - and is likely to be the back-up going into this season.
Now though, the Niners could be presented with the opportunity to go back and rewrite history - finally getting their man in Jones. ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio has suggested that a straight trade, Jones for Lance, could be something that might work for both teams.
He said: "Why not Trey Lance for Mac Jones? I don’t know if the Patriots would want Trey Lance, but when you look at the struggles Bill has had against mobile quarterbacks as a defensive coach, why wouldn’t you want to try to get the most you could out of a quarterback with real mobility?"
It comes after news emerged this week that Jones is reportedly available to be traded, with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in communications with a number of teams.
Jones had an impressive rookie campaign, but struggled this past season when the Patriots controversially chose not to hire an offensive coordinator.
Rumours of Jones' deteriorating relationship with Belichick have been heating up in recent weeks, with the Patriots potentially looking to the 2023 NFL Draft to find their replacement, who could compete with Bailey Zappe, who impressed in a limited role last season.
Lance, meanwhile, has made just two starts in his career to date after suffering a season-ending injury last season - giving the aforementioned Purdy the chance to step in.
