49ers share shocking opinion of Chargers' Trey Lance in wake of draft bust

Trey Lance returns tonight to where it all began. His journey, however, is hardly full circle.

Once anointed as the San Francisco 49ers' franchise quarterback of the future, he's back at Levi's Stadium as a member of the Los Angeles Chargers. Now with his third team in four years, he's merely trying to prove he belongs on Jim Harbaugh's roster.

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Lance, battling Taylor Heinicke to be Justin Herbert's backup, is expected to start and get plenty of playing time Saturday night when the Chargers visit the Niners in their preseason finale. It's already been a successful resurrection for Lance, who one year ago in the final preseason game for the Dallas Cowboys threw a whopping five interceptions.

Pulled off the junk pile by Harbaugh, the former No. 3 overall draft pick by the Niners in 2021 has had a productive, promising preseason. He's made plays with his athleticism and, more importantly, hasn't turned the ball over in three appearances.

The Chargers could ultimately decide to not keep three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, and place Lance on the practice squad. It's a far cry from the lofty expectations placed on him by the Niners four years ago.

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“I don’t want to sit here and evaluate Trey too much, I think I’ve done that before," Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week. "We knew where our team was at and where it was going to be the next couple years, and we were committed to getting a rookie quarterback. We weren’t sure that it would be forever, but we thought that was important, contractually, where our team was at, in order to keep a good team together. We can go back to what we thought and everything, which I have no problem doing any time, but I don’t want to sit here and evaluate Trey again.”

Still just 25, Lance is clearly playing with more confidence under less pressure. He started only four games for the Niners.

“I’m pulling for Trey, I love Trey,” Shanahan said. “One of the best people I’ve been around and I really hope it works out for him.”