Trey Lance may very well be wonderful match as Vikings’ QB of future, if 49ers transfer on from him

There was hypothesis a 12 months in the past at the moment whether or not Kirk Cousins would be back with the Vikings in 2022. Rick Spielman, who had signed Cousins to a wealthy free agent contract in 2018, had been fired as normal supervisor and there was a sense {that a} new GM and coach may need to go in a distinct course.

That didn’t occur and first-year coach Kevin O’Connell gained 13 video games in his first season as Vikings’ coach partially due to Cousins’ regular-season success. Cousins additionally signed a one-year contract extension final March that just about actually will put him below heart with the Vikings in 2023.

However what’s the plan past that?

The Vikings may signal Cousins to a different extension in March, however sooner or later normal supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have to start out planning for the longer term. Cousins can be 35 in March and can carry a $36.3 million wage cap hit in 2023.

Whereas the draft is an choice, the Vikings additionally may look to a younger quarterback who has but to get an opportunity. That might be Marshall, Minn.-native Trey Lance, whom the San Francisco 49ers made the third-overall choose within the 2021 draft.

Right here’s why Lance exploring the Lance choice is smart for the Vikings:

Why the 49ers can be trying to transfer Lance

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The 49ers despatched three first-round picks and a 2022 third-round choice to Miami to leap 9 spots with a purpose to draft the quarterback they noticed because the successor to Jimmy Garoppolo.

Lance performed in six video games and began solely two as a rookie, however was anticipated to be the 49ers’ starter when coaching camp opened final summer season. He lasted two video games into the common season earlier than breaking his proper ankle whereas scrambling in opposition to the Seattle Seahawks. Garoppolo moved into the beginning position after which was changed by 2022 seventh-round choose Brock Purdy after he was injured.

Purdy has helped information the 49ers to the NFC title sport on Sunday in Philadelphia and longtime NFL reporter Michael Silver, who writes for the San Francisco Chronicle, lately reported the 49ers may not get greater than a third-round choose in return for Lance primarily based on what NFL executives are telling him.

Silver wrote:

“Even when the Niners are receptive to potential commerce provides for Lance after the season, they gained’t come near recouping that haul. Primarily based on my conversations with a number of groups’ normal managers (and different high- rating front-office executives), Lance can be unlikely to web way more than a third- spherical choice, although it’s attainable there’s a staff on the market motivated to offer extra.”

The opposite necessary a part of Silver’s report was that the 49ers see Purdy as their quarterback of the longer term. Purdy is 7-0 as a starter and has gained two postseason video games. Lance can be coming into his third season in 2023, having made solely 4 begins and thrown 102 passes.

Holding him in a backup position, whereas Purdy will get all of the first-team work in coaching camp, doesn’t make quite a lot of sense.

What the Vikings may supply in a commerce

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Contemplating how a lot the 49ers gave as much as draft Lance, it appears troublesome to think about they might settle for solely a third-round choose in return for him. If they might, the Vikings ought to pounce.

However even when the Vikings had to surrender a second-round choose, or a 3rd and fourth, Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell shouldn’t dismiss this chance.

The prospect Lance may very well be moved goes past Purdy’s play. Sure, Purdy has been superb however he was the final choose within the draft and positively the 49ers must have some concern about whether or not what they’re seeing now will carry over into subsequent season.

However it’s not as if Lance is a veteran who can step proper in for Purdy if he struggles. San Francisco is within the NFC title sport for the third time prior to now 4 years, and failing to win the Tremendous Bowl will create stress to maintain that window open subsequent season.

Lance began 17 of the 19 video games he appeared in at North Dakota State, however performed in just one sport in 2020 due to the pandemic. Which means he has been in solely 9 video games over the previous three seasons.

Purdy, who performed school soccer at Iowa State and can carry a salary-cap hit of $889,253 subsequent season, may not have entered the NFL with the fanfare that Lance did, however up to now he’s confirmed much more.

Clock is ticking on Lance’s contract

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There’s one other necessary issue on why the 49ers have to decide on Lance. An enormous a part of the rationale to establish and choose a quarterback within the first spherical is as a result of that then ties him to the staff at a really cheap charge for 4 years. A fifth-year choice is included, if it’s a first-round choose.

Lance’s base wage subsequent season can be solely $940,000 and his cap hit $3.76 million. In 2024, his base wage will enhance to $1.055 million with a cap hit of $5.31 million. That’s a cut price.

However Lance’s second contract can be decided by how he performs throughout this deal and proper now there’s no observe file from which to proceed. So far as the fifth-year choice goes that will get much more difficult.

Final offseason, the Arizona Cardinals picked up Kyler Murray’s fifth-year choice that was set to pay him a fully-guaranteed $29.7 million in 2023 earlier than the edges negotiated a five-year extension that included $160 million in ensures.

The best way issues have labored out in San Francisco, Lance may not begin one other sport earlier than his fourth season and his worth would go down with every sport he stands on the sideline.

Niners normal supervisor John Lynch may not need to take a reduction value for Lance, however he additionally doesn’t need Lance strolling away for nothing after 2024.

The draw back for San Francisco is that if Lance is traded, the 49ers should eat $eleven-plus million in lifeless cash of a signing bonus proration. That’s another excuse why Lynch doubtless can be on the lookout for a couple of third-round choose.

Why the Vikings are a superb touchdown spot

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Finally, O’Connell can be a very powerful voice in giving the go-ahead to pursue Lance.

One of many massive causes O’Connell was employed away because the offensive coordinator from the 2021 Tremendous Bowl champion Rams was due to his background as a school and (briefly) NFL quarterback. O’Connell is being counted on to do what Spielman couldn’t — establish a younger franchise quarterback for the Vikings.

Lance can be 23 in Might and may very well be the right man to spend subsequent season behind Cousins after which take over because the starter in 2024. Is it very best from a contract standpoint? No. However making an attempt to draft a quarterback comes with nice danger, or at a big value, if a staff tries to maneuver up within the first spherical.

Lance has danger however there are also knowns and positives. He has spent two years studying the offensive system of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan, whose father, Mike, gained two Tremendous Bowls as coach of the Broncos, is a part of the Shanahan teaching tree that features O’Connell.

There’s respect between O’Connell and Kyle Shanahan and in addition a shared thought course of on quarterback play. It helps that the Vikings and 49ers’ held two joint coaching camp practices at TCO Efficiency Heart final summer season that gave O’Connell a protracted have a look at Lance that he ordinarily wouldn’t have been capable of get.

Possibly O’Connell determined he didn’t like Lance and the failings that some see in his mechanics, however there is also an opportunity he noticed a 6-foot-4, 224-pound QB that he thinks he may be the starter he desires long run.

Assuming Lance’s restoration has gone effectively, he had a second surgical procedure in December to take away {hardware} inserted through the first process to stabilize his ankle, he would give an offense the kind of mobility that Cousins doesn’t.

Lance virtually actually will should be smarter when he does run, however having the mobility to maneuver the pocket is a treasured software.

Many suppose Lance’s mechanics- together with a dip when he throws and an elongated motion- are deal-breakers. However one has to suppose Shanahan has performed loads of work to refine Lance’s throwing movement, and spending a season working with O’Connell, and serving because the quarterback in ready behind Cousins, may arrange Lance for achievement taking part in in his house state.

Story originally appeared on Vikings Wire

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