Insider discusses if 49ers will trade Trey Lance during NFL Draft

San Francisco 49ers insider Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area doesn't expect the club to trade quarterback Trey Lance at any point during the NFL Draft. 

During a Thursday appearance on the KNBR "Murph and Mac" program, Maiocco explained he'd be "really surprised" if San Francisco traded Lance before the final draft pick is made on Saturday for multiple reasons. 

For starters, the 49ers would have to create roughly $2M in salary-cap space to officially finalize the trade.

"I don’t know if a team would be all that interested in him," Maiocco directly said about Lance. "And then I don’t see why the 49ers would be interested in trading him." 

Lance seemingly has lost his spot atop the depth chart to a healthy Brock Purdy, but Purdy is on track to spend a minimum of five-to-seven additional months recovering from surgery he needed to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Thus, Lance is set to compete with free-agency signing Sam Darnold for the right to be the club's Week 1 starter. 

"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 continued. 

Matt Barrows of The Athletic offered similar takes last week and said it was hard to envision a trade involving Lance "happening imminently." NFL Network's Ian Rapoport previously mentioned that the 2021 first-round draft pick should remain with the 49ers for at least "the next few months." 

While it's now no secret 49ers general manager John Lynch has taken calls about Lance's availability since the end of last season, Lynch recently insisted he isn't actively shopping the 22-year-old. Unless Lynch makes a blockbuster move for a proven commodity such as Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson and finds a clever way to pay Jackson, Lance likely is staying put through the completion of springtime workouts.