The responses to the recent Lance news by some in Bay Area and national media could best be described as unhinged. Grant Cohn is teetering on the brink of psychosis. Nick Wright called Trey Lance’s three years of development with the Niners “the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever seen in pro sports”. RG3 said the only reason Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch still have jobs is because Brock Purdy bailed them out last year. This is truly insane stuff.
They think Trey Lance got the short end of the stick the first few years of his career? LOL. Let me tell you about Sam Darnold’s first three years. He got drafted by the New York Jets. Season 1, he had Todd Bowles as head coach and Jeremy Bates as offensive coordinator. Seasons 2 and 3 it was Adam Gase and Dowell Loggains. The Patriots decided to let Mac Jones enter his second season without an actual offensive coordinator on the roster! He’s got a bottom 10 collection of pass catchers in the league. Trey Lance had Kyle freaking Shanahan and maybe the most talented roster in the league. Lance had plenty of chances, he was just not good and/or not healthy.
Before the 2021 NFL Draft, there were rumors that the 49ers were going to draft Mac Jones with that 3rd pick instead of Trey Lance. Many of the same national media and Bay Area media/Twitter personalities that reacted viscerally to the Lance news this week also went apoplectic at the Mac Jones rumors in 2021. I think part of this reaction is that *some* of these people don’t want their starting QB to look like Mac Jones, Brock Purdy (Midwest Mac Jones), or Sam Darnold (west coast Mac Jones). Not in 2023. I mean those dudes are probably MAGA for Christ sakes.
I agree that part of the reason certain media members went to war for Lance is because he is black, but I think most of them were skeptical of Mac Jones because he's a fat ass, not his assumed political views.
I don’t remember Mac Jones’ weight being a topic of discussion at all during the 2021 draft process. His lack of athleticism, sure. But the Patriots tanked his development 20x worse than the Niners did with Lance. And he’ll very likely still end up a better pro than Lance.
I think the reason people are losing their minds is because Shanahan and Lynch clearly thought he was a sure thing - otherwise why give up that kind of draft haul?
Most front offices never recover from that kind of bust. It’s not just that they screwed up the #3 pick, they traded a fortune to move up and take him.
It reminds of Brian Colangelo trading up for Markelle Fultz - not only did they completely whiff on the pick but traded additional capital to get him. He was deservedly fired.
“You witness fans grousing about a young player’s lack of PT while, behind the scenes, everyone knows he’s a drunk, or a flake, or just generally unmotivated. Nobody can say it publicly, but back at the event level, everyone is operating under the hidden knowledge.”
And this is why the beat writer can disappear and no one will care. Reporters that don’t report. An incoherent job.
Ethan, great article but why intentionally overlook the racially charged perspective of the fans and media blasting this Trey Lance trade?
I mean it was obviously present even before they drafted him. As others noted, the thought of using that pick on a SEC QB that had a won the National title had them ready to riot. While they were titillating at a thought of drafting a D-II QB they never heard of because….?🤷🏻♂️ This was in the haze of George Floyd when race was a major factor and it’s still a factor now.
Your friend Bomani Jones was very open about inciting these race-based narratives around Lance. The one that really takes the cake was when he guest hosted on Hang Up and Listen while promoting his show in January. It was the Monday following the 49ers domination of the Seahawks in a playoff game where Purdy threw 300+ yards, 3 TDs, and 0 INTs. Looking like a serious Super Bowl threat, Bomani played out a hypothetical where the 49ers won the Super Bowl with Purdy but stated the team SHOULD still make Trey Lance the starting QB the following year — asserting if Purdy could do it then Lance could do it. Extending the hypothetical he said, “but they wouldn’t because Trey Lance is black!”. It was a take so unhinged it seemed to have stunned Josh. What we are seeing here is the same type of mentality. The narrative has been this is a failure of GM and Coach for not giving Lance a fair shot with the undertone being because he’s black (at least Jones is open about it).
For a hypothetical or my own, If the 49ers had drafted Mac Jones and the same circumstances played out, how do you think these same people would be responding? I am skeptical it’s the young blogger vs. the seasoned reporter divide that’s driving these reactions, as many here are not fully buying it.
Yeah it’s Trey lances fault for not performing and not being that good, but the clear fault is the niners for making a dumb pick in the moment. If you watched college football you’d know Lance was just gonna be Mitch trubisky, and that being generous (trubisky isn’t as big a bust as he’s made out to be, it’s more they took him over Watson and mahomes, which again literally just watch college football and you’d know that was an insane pick). It was a bad evaluation and complete overpay
The idea that they are being unfair to him is pretty bizarre. They've seen him in practice and he hasn't been good. If your take is Shanahan is just an idiot and doesn't know what he's seeing then...ok I guess. But that's also a weird take
This is one of the biggest changes in the sports media landscape over the last 5-10 years. People who are paid to give their honest analysis and opinion on sports are more frequently letting their political leanings influence their commentary. It’s not that Trey Lance is a better quarterback than Jimmy G or Brock Purdy. It’s that we’ve graduated as a society from white frat bros playing quarterback. We’re past that. Their time is over. It doesn’t matter that Purdy, Mac, and Darnold have 10x the experience against superior competition. It’s Trey Lance’s time, damnit.
Lamar Jackson gets similar treatment. Where league execs, coaches, and scouts typically place him in the 7-10 range of QB rankings, many of the folks that talk football at ESPN, the Ringer, and Fox are desperate to convince you he’s a top 3 guy. They want to dunk on the Oakley-trucker bros on Twitter more than they want to breathe.
I thought Lance got something of a raw deal, with the two injuries, but I was surprised by that too, how slow he is. Also wish he could throw a spiral-- on target passes are much more important of course, but if your pass looks like a wounded duck the chances of it getting to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there, are lower.
“Got something of a raw deal”, as if his tendency to get injured is somehow something that happens to him instead of a meaningful aspect of who he is as a footballer.
Lance broke his finger on a helmet, and broke his ankle while being tackled in a scrum. These weren't non-contact injuries. When Tom Brady tore his ACL, was that labeled a meaningful aspect of his football skills?
Quarterbacks hit their fingers on helmets and get tackled in scrums several times a season. The fact that Brady only tore his ACL once while playing so many games is an incredibly meaningful aspect of his football talent and physical gifts.
Brady runs a 5.1 40 yard dash. He's not a physical freak. If he'd done the same inside run Lance did --which Brady has never been asked to do-- and was hit the same way he would have broken his ankle too. As for hitting fingers on helmets, QBs sometimes break their fingers that way-- these things happen in the NFL.
Lance has had two incidents of bad luck. I wish he'd gotten more chances to play. Maybe he would have capitalized and maybe not (I'm not a Lance fanatic), but now he'll get more opportunities, which is what he needs.
These things do happen in the NFL, to some players more than others. The players to whom it happens to more than others are less useful and valuable football players.
Yeah I mean the only problem is, Lance had only started 17 college games, had played only one game in the year before the draft. Yes he was FCS champion and undefeated...but it was FCS. I think that the 49ers probably gave him the opportunities to the extent possible, but the fact is, trading up that much for him was extremely questionable to begin with, and not only in hindsight, I remember criticism on this point at the time. They succumbed to the hype.
We get to see this play out in literally 15 minutes as I write this with Liam Lawson in F1. If we think NFL is cutthroat, F1 is even more so. This probably will be his one shot.
There are at any given time, 5-7 excellent quarterbacks that are part of a group of 20 adequate throwers. A third of the league doesn't really have a QB.
So the math of the situation suggests that you always roll the dice to get another one because no one knows anything about talent evaluation. Coming from a Packer fan.
Point is same like Wiseman. Don’t draft him. You know you won’t be able to develop him. If you think you can and don’t, it is your fault. It was a bad bet from the beginning with all the noise about Mac Jones, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, etc. Implusive trade that led to a risky pick. That was a bad plan not just bad development.
That Stafford trade is truly one of the biggest “what ifs” of the last several years. Niners probably have at least one ring if Stafford gets traded there, and hell I could be convinced they’d have gone back to back. That roster has so much talent minus the QB position. It’s gotta sting even more for Shanahan that the Rams landed Stafford and McVay is the one that got the ring.
as others have said the niners should have never drafted him in the first place. kyle isn’t a qb whisperer of a coach and should have never taken a project qb that high with a super bowl ready roster (that’s beside giving up the picks). they deserve a ton of shit for doing that while also not getting stafford or brady. lance is probably cooked and won’t be a meaningful starter in the league, but would have been cool to see if mcvay or sean payton could get anything out of him
I think the biggest misconception I'm seeing in this situation is people saying the 49ers will be able to weather the loss of three first round picks that yielded absolutely nothing. The LA Rams went full-blown "fuck them picks" couple years ago, assembled a team good enough to win a Super Bowl, and only a year later the franchise was in complete shambles. Needs arise in football when you least expect them, and three wasted first round picks severely limits the 49ers ability to sustain this run.
Well argued by Ethan, but still feels like Lance didn't get enough of a chance, with the two injuries. 49ers knew about the lack of experience going in, with the lost 2020 covid season, and if they were in win-now mode why draft a project?
The responses to the recent Lance news by some in Bay Area and national media could best be described as unhinged. Grant Cohn is teetering on the brink of psychosis. Nick Wright called Trey Lance’s three years of development with the Niners “the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever seen in pro sports”. RG3 said the only reason Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch still have jobs is because Brock Purdy bailed them out last year. This is truly insane stuff.
They think Trey Lance got the short end of the stick the first few years of his career? LOL. Let me tell you about Sam Darnold’s first three years. He got drafted by the New York Jets. Season 1, he had Todd Bowles as head coach and Jeremy Bates as offensive coordinator. Seasons 2 and 3 it was Adam Gase and Dowell Loggains. The Patriots decided to let Mac Jones enter his second season without an actual offensive coordinator on the roster! He’s got a bottom 10 collection of pass catchers in the league. Trey Lance had Kyle freaking Shanahan and maybe the most talented roster in the league. Lance had plenty of chances, he was just not good and/or not healthy.
Before the 2021 NFL Draft, there were rumors that the 49ers were going to draft Mac Jones with that 3rd pick instead of Trey Lance. Many of the same national media and Bay Area media/Twitter personalities that reacted viscerally to the Lance news this week also went apoplectic at the Mac Jones rumors in 2021. I think part of this reaction is that *some* of these people don’t want their starting QB to look like Mac Jones, Brock Purdy (Midwest Mac Jones), or Sam Darnold (west coast Mac Jones). Not in 2023. I mean those dudes are probably MAGA for Christ sakes.
Takes guts for RG III to say that, given his only successful season was under Shanahan.
I agree that part of the reason certain media members went to war for Lance is because he is black, but I think most of them were skeptical of Mac Jones because he's a fat ass, not his assumed political views.
I don’t remember Mac Jones’ weight being a topic of discussion at all during the 2021 draft process. His lack of athleticism, sure. But the Patriots tanked his development 20x worse than the Niners did with Lance. And he’ll very likely still end up a better pro than Lance.
I think the reason people are losing their minds is because Shanahan and Lynch clearly thought he was a sure thing - otherwise why give up that kind of draft haul?
Most front offices never recover from that kind of bust. It’s not just that they screwed up the #3 pick, they traded a fortune to move up and take him.
It reminds of Brian Colangelo trading up for Markelle Fultz - not only did they completely whiff on the pick but traded additional capital to get him. He was deservedly fired.
I agree with RG3’s take about Lynch - if he doesn’t have Purdue then he’d legit be on the seat after the biggest draft whiff in a decade.
“You witness fans grousing about a young player’s lack of PT while, behind the scenes, everyone knows he’s a drunk, or a flake, or just generally unmotivated. Nobody can say it publicly, but back at the event level, everyone is operating under the hidden knowledge.”
And this is why the beat writer can disappear and no one will care. Reporters that don’t report. An incoherent job.
Ethan, great article but why intentionally overlook the racially charged perspective of the fans and media blasting this Trey Lance trade?
I mean it was obviously present even before they drafted him. As others noted, the thought of using that pick on a SEC QB that had a won the National title had them ready to riot. While they were titillating at a thought of drafting a D-II QB they never heard of because….?🤷🏻♂️ This was in the haze of George Floyd when race was a major factor and it’s still a factor now.
Your friend Bomani Jones was very open about inciting these race-based narratives around Lance. The one that really takes the cake was when he guest hosted on Hang Up and Listen while promoting his show in January. It was the Monday following the 49ers domination of the Seahawks in a playoff game where Purdy threw 300+ yards, 3 TDs, and 0 INTs. Looking like a serious Super Bowl threat, Bomani played out a hypothetical where the 49ers won the Super Bowl with Purdy but stated the team SHOULD still make Trey Lance the starting QB the following year — asserting if Purdy could do it then Lance could do it. Extending the hypothetical he said, “but they wouldn’t because Trey Lance is black!”. It was a take so unhinged it seemed to have stunned Josh. What we are seeing here is the same type of mentality. The narrative has been this is a failure of GM and Coach for not giving Lance a fair shot with the undertone being because he’s black (at least Jones is open about it).
For a hypothetical or my own, If the 49ers had drafted Mac Jones and the same circumstances played out, how do you think these same people would be responding? I am skeptical it’s the young blogger vs. the seasoned reporter divide that’s driving these reactions, as many here are not fully buying it.
It’s good business. I clicked.
Yeah it’s Trey lances fault for not performing and not being that good, but the clear fault is the niners for making a dumb pick in the moment. If you watched college football you’d know Lance was just gonna be Mitch trubisky, and that being generous (trubisky isn’t as big a bust as he’s made out to be, it’s more they took him over Watson and mahomes, which again literally just watch college football and you’d know that was an insane pick). It was a bad evaluation and complete overpay
It was in hindsight obviously a bad evaluation, but it was the consensus pick of the brainy analytic establishment at the time of the draft.
I'm still angry at my Chicago Bears for the Trubisky pick. I knew from the moment he was drafted it was a stupid idea.
The hystetics on twitter from HoS guests like Andy Liu and Grant Cohn have been unhinged and completely irrational.
The idea that they are being unfair to him is pretty bizarre. They've seen him in practice and he hasn't been good. If your take is Shanahan is just an idiot and doesn't know what he's seeing then...ok I guess. But that's also a weird take
Black quarterbacks cannot fail. They can only be failed.
This is one of the biggest changes in the sports media landscape over the last 5-10 years. People who are paid to give their honest analysis and opinion on sports are more frequently letting their political leanings influence their commentary. It’s not that Trey Lance is a better quarterback than Jimmy G or Brock Purdy. It’s that we’ve graduated as a society from white frat bros playing quarterback. We’re past that. Their time is over. It doesn’t matter that Purdy, Mac, and Darnold have 10x the experience against superior competition. It’s Trey Lance’s time, damnit.
Lamar Jackson gets similar treatment. Where league execs, coaches, and scouts typically place him in the 7-10 range of QB rankings, many of the folks that talk football at ESPN, the Ringer, and Fox are desperate to convince you he’s a top 3 guy. They want to dunk on the Oakley-trucker bros on Twitter more than they want to breathe.
The 49er bloggers/youtubers are an embarrassment. It was obvious from his first game that Lance doesnt have elite speed.
I have been grateful the niners acknowledged it quickly and moved on
I thought Lance got something of a raw deal, with the two injuries, but I was surprised by that too, how slow he is. Also wish he could throw a spiral-- on target passes are much more important of course, but if your pass looks like a wounded duck the chances of it getting to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there, are lower.
“Got something of a raw deal”, as if his tendency to get injured is somehow something that happens to him instead of a meaningful aspect of who he is as a footballer.
Lance broke his finger on a helmet, and broke his ankle while being tackled in a scrum. These weren't non-contact injuries. When Tom Brady tore his ACL, was that labeled a meaningful aspect of his football skills?
Quarterbacks hit their fingers on helmets and get tackled in scrums several times a season. The fact that Brady only tore his ACL once while playing so many games is an incredibly meaningful aspect of his football talent and physical gifts.
Brady runs a 5.1 40 yard dash. He's not a physical freak. If he'd done the same inside run Lance did --which Brady has never been asked to do-- and was hit the same way he would have broken his ankle too. As for hitting fingers on helmets, QBs sometimes break their fingers that way-- these things happen in the NFL.
Lance has had two incidents of bad luck. I wish he'd gotten more chances to play. Maybe he would have capitalized and maybe not (I'm not a Lance fanatic), but now he'll get more opportunities, which is what he needs.
These things do happen in the NFL, to some players more than others. The players to whom it happens to more than others are less useful and valuable football players.
Yeah I mean the only problem is, Lance had only started 17 college games, had played only one game in the year before the draft. Yes he was FCS champion and undefeated...but it was FCS. I think that the 49ers probably gave him the opportunities to the extent possible, but the fact is, trading up that much for him was extremely questionable to begin with, and not only in hindsight, I remember criticism on this point at the time. They succumbed to the hype.
We get to see this play out in literally 15 minutes as I write this with Liam Lawson in F1. If we think NFL is cutthroat, F1 is even more so. This probably will be his one shot.
There are 32 NFL teams.
There are at any given time, 5-7 excellent quarterbacks that are part of a group of 20 adequate throwers. A third of the league doesn't really have a QB.
So the math of the situation suggests that you always roll the dice to get another one because no one knows anything about talent evaluation. Coming from a Packer fan.
1. Unless Trey becomes pro bowler, the Worst niners trade remains Haley to cowboys. Gave their arch rival the missing price for their dynasty
2. After watching the qb show, I have had to accept the niners would have multiple chips if Kyle/john had just stuck to the plan and signed cousins.
Point is same like Wiseman. Don’t draft him. You know you won’t be able to develop him. If you think you can and don’t, it is your fault. It was a bad bet from the beginning with all the noise about Mac Jones, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, etc. Implusive trade that led to a risky pick. That was a bad plan not just bad development.
That Stafford trade is truly one of the biggest “what ifs” of the last several years. Niners probably have at least one ring if Stafford gets traded there, and hell I could be convinced they’d have gone back to back. That roster has so much talent minus the QB position. It’s gotta sting even more for Shanahan that the Rams landed Stafford and McVay is the one that got the ring.
as others have said the niners should have never drafted him in the first place. kyle isn’t a qb whisperer of a coach and should have never taken a project qb that high with a super bowl ready roster (that’s beside giving up the picks). they deserve a ton of shit for doing that while also not getting stafford or brady. lance is probably cooked and won’t be a meaningful starter in the league, but would have been cool to see if mcvay or sean payton could get anything out of him
I think the biggest misconception I'm seeing in this situation is people saying the 49ers will be able to weather the loss of three first round picks that yielded absolutely nothing. The LA Rams went full-blown "fuck them picks" couple years ago, assembled a team good enough to win a Super Bowl, and only a year later the franchise was in complete shambles. Needs arise in football when you least expect them, and three wasted first round picks severely limits the 49ers ability to sustain this run.
Well argued by Ethan, but still feels like Lance didn't get enough of a chance, with the two injuries. 49ers knew about the lack of experience going in, with the lost 2020 covid season, and if they were in win-now mode why draft a project?
But they do see him at practice everyday. Shanahan and Lynch have a HUGE amount of equity riding on Trey being a franchise qb.
The fact he’s been benched means he’s no longer a “maybe” but a solid “no” as a franchise qb.
Apart from Trey’s immediate family, nobody has a stronger interest in him succeeding in SF than Kyle and Lynch.