A wild series of events Wednesday made it look like a Trey Lance trade was imminent for the 49ers. It was noted by reporters on site at the team’s facility that Lance didn’t show up to practice shortly after it was made public by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that Sam Darnold would be the backup quarterback and that the team was exploring all its options with Lance.
Did the team have a trade on the table for Lance and didn’t want him practicing and potentially getting hurt? Did Lance punt on playing for the team ever again? There wasn’t much clarity, particularly since neither 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan nor general manager John Lynch met with media after the session.
Pelissero on 95.7 the Game in San Francisco told Mark Willard and Dan Dibley that Lance’s absence wasn’t a sign of a fracture in his relationship with the team, and that Lance didn’t learn the news because of Pelissero’s tweet Wednesday.
“Trey Lance knew,” Pelissero said. “Sam Darnold had been told that he was gonna be the number 2. There was communication. Again, I’ll let Kyle and those guys talk on exactly what happened today, but everyone knew. Everyone was on board with Trey not being there today. No, I don’t think it’s an issue with the relationship. Trey’s not that type of guy. I’m sure he’s just disappointed and frustrated and all those things, but it’s not a ‘bleep you’ type of situation from everything that I understand.”
It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Lance’s camp did tell the team he’d like to be traded once he found out he wasn’t going to be the backup. Pelissero noted that Lance was likely absent though because of his disappointment with the outcome of the backup QB competition.
“The fact that Trey Lance wasn’t on the field today probably gives you a pretty good indication of what this is,” Pelissero said. “And that doesn’t mean this was a storm out of the building type of situation, but there’s an intense disappointment when, by all accounts, he’s made strides through the course of this offseason and it still wasn’t good enough. So, he takes a day away at this point.”
Kyle Shanahan confirmed this in an interview with KNBR in San Francisco where he said the team thought it was better for Lance to take a day off and clear his head.
Things could get very interesting if Lance’s absence bleeds into the club’s preseason finale vs. the Chargers. Given his history of dealing with adversity (and there’s been a lot of it in his NFL career) it’s tough to imagine Lance doing that to the team and putting them in that position. It would also do his long-term value more harm than good since he could also have an opportunity to play and showcase himself for potential trade destinations.
What we know for now though is that the missed session wasn’t because of a pending trade or because of ongoing trade talks, and it’s more likely than not Lance will be with the team Friday assuming he isn’t dealt by then.
