Is there anything real to the Trey Lance trade buzz or is it all white noise?
There’s been plenty of debate about whether the 49ers will trade the former No. 3 overall pick. He’s played just four games in two seasons, and the emergence of Brock Purdy has seemed to make him expendable.
NBC Sports Matt Maiocco joined Murph and Mac on Thursday before the NFL Draft kicks off and discussed the potential of a Lance trade. Listen below:
Maiocco said that he would be “really surprised” if Lance gets dealt over the next three days.
The first problem is that he says the 49ers would have to create roughly $2 million in cap space in order to trade him.
First off, they’d have to — not that it’s undoable — but they’d have to clear about $2 million in cap room just to be able to trade him. According to OverTheCap, Lance would have a dead cap hit of $11 million, which would cost $1.78 million in cap space. The 49ers have $2.94 million in cap space, per OTC.
Perhaps more importantly, Maiocco said there may not be much offered.
“I don’t know if a team would be all that interested in him,” Maiocco said. “And then I don’t see why the 49ers would be interested in trading him.”
Given Brock Purdy’s recovery timeline and with Sam Darnold the only other quarterback on the roster, Maiocco doesn’t expect much movement with Lance.
“With Sam Darnold as the only other quarterback right now healthy on the roster, I would be really, really surprised if Trey Lance is dealt,” Maiocco said.
The 49ers don’t own a draft pick until pick 99, followed quickly by 101 and 102 to end the third round. If something is to go down for Lance, you’d think it would have to involve a first- or second-round pick.
San Francisco could also wait until after June 1 and save $3,760,478 in cap space, but any draft capital acquired wouldn’t be all that useful to a team competing for a championship.