What on Earth Happened to Trey Lance?
And where is he now?
Trey Lance is one of the biggest busts in NFL Draft history but the road he has taken to get to that point is not exactly the most common. Lance was born on the 9th in the year 2000 in Marshall, Minnesota. He attended Marshall High School before eventually committing to North Dakota State. He didn’t start a game his Freshman season; however, as a Sophmore, he led the Bison to a 16-0 season and a Division 1AA National Championship. Lance threw for 2,786 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He also added 1,100 more yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns. He opted out of a shortened 2020 season (due to Covid 19) to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft. The San Fransisco 49ers traded 3 first round picks and a third round pick to move up to the third overall pick to have the ability to select Trey Lance. The 49ers thought that they were one quarterback away from winning the Super Bowl (which has been proven in recent years, just with a different quarterback).
In his rookie season, Lance started 2 games, going 1-1 while throwing for 603 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He also added 168 yards on the ground, and a rushing touchdown. Lance was named the week 1 starter for the 2022 season, and ended up losing the opening game to fellow 2021 draft class quarterback Justin Fields (Bears) 19-10. In the first quarter of the second game, Lance went down in the first quarter with a season-ending ankle injury. After backup Jimmy Garoppolo went down, Brock Purdy took over the starting role, and led the Niners to the NFC Championship game.
On August 26, 2023, Lance was traded for just a fourth round pick to the Dallas Cowboys. Since then, he has only started one game. That game was Week 18 of 2024 against the Commanders where Lance was 20 for 34 while throwing for 244 passing yards and rushing for 26 yards. It is just so surprising to see a draft bust only start 5 games and then just fall off the face of the earth. He may get another chance somewhere else, but he will probably need to show as a backup that he his worthy to do such as a starter.