49ers’ Kyle Shanahan: ‘I always feel like I let Trey down’
Kyle Shanahan said Trey Lance’s time simply ran out with the 49ers and he’ll get needed opportunities with the Dallas Cowboys via a Friday trade
SANTA CLARA — In the aftermath of Trey Lance’s trade from the 49ers to the Dallas Cowboys, Coach Kyle Shanahan struck a somber tone Friday.
Shanahan appeared disappointed that his No. 3 overall draft pick in 2021 did not pan out. But he also sounded pleased with Lance’s opportunity against an NFC rival — one the 49ers had defeated in the previous two postseasons — and the coach emphasized how well-positioned the 49ers are.
Rather than keeping Lance as a No. 3 quarterback behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold, the 49ers gave in to Lance’s request to find a spot where he could get needed practice reps as a No. 2, which he will presumably be in Dallas behind Dak Prescott.
“I always feel like I let Trey down,” said Shanahan. “I requested that he come here. I had faith in Trey. Before we took him, I had faith in him. That is entirely my fault.”
In a later press conference, general manager John Lynch stated, “Love the kid. Kyle and I saw him light up a little bit when we told him the news today, and he loves it here. He was grateful for the opportunity. Trey, typical Trey, apologized to us when there was nothing to apologize for. And we’re glad he’s got a spot. The Cowboys came up big, which I think shows they’re excited to have him, and we’re excited for Trey’s new opportunity. And we will always be fans.”
Before Shanahan’s full transcript, here’s a quick recap of the 49ers’ breakup with Lance:
Wednesday morning: Shanahan meets with Lance and informs him that Darnold has won the No. 2 job, behind Purdy, who is healthy and earned the No. 1 job due to his efforts last season. Lance tells Shanahan about 1 1/2 hours later that he’d like to discuss trade possibilities and that he’d like to miss practice because he’s too emotional to be around his teammates.
Wednesday evening: Shanahan and Lance discuss potential trade partners discovered by the 49ers and Lance’s agent.
Thursday morning: Other teams’ interest grows (the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys were the finalists, according to a team source). The trade was completed for a fourth-round pick, which was higher than the 49ers anticipated when negotiations began. Brock Purdy joins other teammates near the weight room by the practice field to express their gratitude and best wishes, and Lance responds by saying he’ll be watching them as well.
“Hell yeah, we’d love to just keep him until things work out,” Shanahan said. “But the clock has run out here.” That’s why we had to make a difficult decision, one we didn’t want to make, but we try to do what we think is best, and this is what we think is best.”
In his first press conference since Tuesday, other than his Wednesday radio show on KNBR 680-AM, Shanahan said to the media following Friday night’s preseason loss to the Chargers:
Why a fourth-round pick was a better return than keeping Lance:
“We chose two quarterbacks.” We’ll see how the 53 turns out and whether we can keep three. We told Trey he wasn’t the (No.) 2, and I told him we wanted to keep him as the (No.) 3. We also wanted to do what was best for him, and we’ll see how this goes.
“When we looked into other teams and he told us he wanted another chance to be the (No.) 2, we felt we had some good deals for him.” When other teams got involved, getting a fourth (round pick) was a little better than expected, and it clears up a lot of money, as well as putting him in a better situation.”
On whether he requested a trade and whether the relationship was irreparable:
“We did well. Today I had a great conversation with him. When I told him he didn’t get the No. 2 job, we had a difficult conversation. After spending the previous two days with him, today was much easier. There was nothing that needed to be fixed.
Why end the quarterback competition before the preseason finale:
“Because I was aware of it.” I expected it to take longer. I wanted to play this game. But I was aware of it. And I believe a lot of guys were aware of it. I believe he had a thought. It was more about my relationship with Trey; I’m in meetings with him every day, and I could tell he was starting to feel that way on the field. I didn’t want to be a liar. him. I told him I wanted him to come in the morning to tell him once we knew and I could tell he knew we knew. That was something I didn’t want between us. So I did it. I didn’t expect it to come out so quickly. It did. I informed Trey right before our team meeting. I didn’t even get to tell Sam or anyone else on the team. Trey and I were the only ones who knew. It clearly got out.”
On why he didn’t tell the media on Wednesday, and why he didn’t tell the players first:
“I’d like to tell the players first, and I’d like to tell Sam first.” We were hoping Trey would still come to practice. I completely understand why he didn’t. He asked to take it off because he was feeling emotional and didn’t want to be around the players. That was completely clear to me. But we were still hoping for him to show up. I wasn’t going to have a meeting on the field to tell the players who we announced as the second-string guy by the time he didn’t. Not to mention that practice was over at 1:43 p.m., and I had a radio show at 1:45.
“I went on the radio show and talked about it for 20 minutes, and that’s where I felt comfortable because I knew if I talked about it there, you guys would get the information.” Unfortunately, I discovered that the radio show had been delayed due to a baseball game going into extra innings, so you didn’t find out until 4:30. If I could do it all over again, I would have had it to you guys right away.”
Did you tell Trey when you signed Darnold that he could be the backup? Was it obvious to him?
“I told Trey exactly what I told you guys. Brock has been the starter since day one. From what I saw on tape last year, I predicted that if Brock stayed healthy, it would be difficult for anyone to beat him. If he wasn’t healthy, Sam and Trey would be vying for the number one spot. They’d be competing for the 2 if he was. That’s what we told them when they arrived, as well as during OTAs and training camp, and it worked out. They had all of the OTAs together, as well as all of the practices. Sam was the winner of the competition.”
On what Sam Darnold demonstrated to be the better option?
“Precisely everything. The entire body of work. He improved over time. It was a little tight at first. He began to separate himself each day over the last few weeks. The more at ease he became, the more consistent he became. It was pretty obvious to all of us.”
Did he ask for a trade?
“We discussed all of the situations. I told him how much I wanted him to be the number three. I also told him what I believe is best: Trey needs to play. When he’s had those two chances here, he’s gotten hurt in both of them and narrowly missed the window. It opened the door for someone else to do it. Trey requires it once more. He didn’t get that in this place. If he can find an opportunity, I told him that’s what I think is best. If he doesn’t and wants to come, we want him to come. Trey paused for a moment to consider it, then returned and said he’d like to find another location if possible. That’s when his agent and I started looking into it.
“The first conversation took place on Wednesday. He came in about an hour and a half later and said he’d like that, but he’d also like to not go out to practice, get his stuff together, or think about it. That’s exactly what he did. He came in the next day (Thursday), was at our walk-through, and was at our meeting last night.
“We communicated the possibilities yesterday.” I told him about some of the interested teams. Last night, I discussed some of those options and what I thought was best. Other teams became interested today. He would have been out there at that game if they hadn’t, and we would have gone with him as our (No.) 3.
“However, some good stuff did come out, which I believe he is very excited about.” I could tell he was, especially after telling him today. So, I believe we are as well.”
In the event of an evaluation or circumstance failure:
“Obviously, we tried our best, but it didn’t work out.” That is entirely our fault. I’m not going to call anything a ‘failure.’ That would be unfair to Trey. We took a chance on him, hoping he could be our guy. That did not pan out. From our perspective, I understand.
“I still have faith in Trey.” After that COVID year, we had the 12th pick in the draft three years ago. We thought we had a great team. We didn’t think we’d have another chance to get to that top area and draft a quarterback. We knew it was a risk, but we didn’t expect to pick that high again for a couple of years. We’d never get the chance to go from 12 to 3. We tried a few different locations before that. However, 3 was the first to do it. We examined everything in between. We fired our shot. We had faith in him.
“I was hoping he’d get more playing time his first year.” We knew he wouldn’t just come in and take Jimmy’s place. We hoped to incorporate it and give him some experience. It became more difficult for him after he broke his finger (in the 2021 preseason finale). We knew we’d commit to him the following year, and we did. We knew he wasn’t completely prepared in every way, but we knew that with his skill set, we could put something together to give him a chance to compete and grow with a good team as he developed. He was injured in the first quarter of the second game, which hampered his progress.
“We’re now in our third year, and we still have a strong team.” We assumed it would be Trey. We were extremely fortunate to have a rookie (contract) quarterback for a second year. It was a seventh-round selection. We also look back on it because we didn’t think having the 29th pick, which those two first-round picks were (in 2022 and ’23), we were hoping it’d be 32, but two first-round picks at 29, we knew no one would consider moving up with that.
“It felt pretty fortunate what we fell into (with Purdy).”
On whether Trey discussed the options with the team and how he did so:
“I told them after the deal that any time you trade a quarterback — I mean, all those guys are going through the same thing.” I’m going to have tough conversations with a lot of guys over the next few days, but I told them the circumstances are different when it’s this big, at quarterback, with someone drafted like him. So I just told them that’s what John and I decide, and I hope they put their trust in us to do what’s best for the team. They simply must be prepared to answer those questions.”
On whether Lance’s performance in the preseason opener in Las Vegas was decisive:
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. Today I mentioned the last few weeks. You never make a decision based on one day, one preseason game, or anything else. It’s a lot of effort. Early on in camp, things were a lot tighter. Sam became more comfortable with the more reps he got, and he began to separate himself.”
On whether there is anything he would do differently with Trey Lance:
“I’ve always felt like I let Trey down. I had asked him to come here. I had faith in Trey. Before we took him, I had faith in him. That is entirely my fault.
“I can look back in retrospect. In that fourth preseason game against the Raiders (in 2021), he broke his finger on a helmet. I’m sorry I put him in that situation where he broke his finger. That hurt him a lot that first year, and it hurt him in practice because he had to adjust his throwing motion, which set him back for a second year. We gave him a chance in the second year, and we designed an offense that would allow him to succeed. You hope a guy can stay healthy long enough to stay out there. That was short-lived. I always felt sorry for him and kept working with him. Things just don’t always work out.”
On why Lance should be retained:
“It was difficult for us to do that given where we are as a team, how much time we have given him, and the situation here where we gave him every opportunity to beat out Sam.” It simply did not occur.
“When you look at it that way, there aren’t many opportunities on that practice field.” There is no such thing as a developmental league. There isn’t a side field where we can put players to give him reps.
“You must prepare the 1 for departure. It’s difficult enough to get the two ready to go when you’re not. The 3 is usually a guy who never gets a rep until he gets out there by chance. With everything we’d done so far, I didn’t think that was right for Trey, and it wasn’t right for our team, either.
“I felt it was time for him and us to move on.” Everything that happened is well known to me. Unfortunately, it did occur.
“But I like where our team is right now as well.” That makes me very happy. I also feel very good that, despite all of that, we’d love to keep a third guy to develop, especially a guy you really like and believe he can do it someday, but to do that for $7 million over two years, with the places you’re in the cap, and you can’t provide those reps for people, and you have other stuff (roster and contract moves) with our team that we’re doing, that doesn’t make much sense for the Niners.
“I wish it would, because we’d love to just keep him until it all worked out.” But the clock has struck twelve. That’s why we had to make a difficult decision, one we didn’t want to make, but we try to do what we think is best, and this is what we think is best.
On drafting a developmental quarterback for a contender:
“I believe there was a chance. When we did it with him, we thought we were aligned as a team to win right away. We expected him to take his time. But we also had to decide where we wanted to go with our team over the next two years, and we felt that if we could get a guy on a rookie deal who could help us win, we could put a good team around him. We took a chance on Trey. We believe he can, but we know it will take time. But in the meantime, we’d have a pretty good team.
“When we did give him the time, he missed those ops (opportunities).” It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t our fault. It occurs in football.
“We are very fortunate to have found a guy who is still on a rookie contract who has assisted us in putting together a good team.” We also believe we have a strong backup.”
Injured kicker Jake Moody’s status
“Right now, it’s week to week. We’re hoping he’ll be able to play in Week 1. We’ll have to wait and see how his body reacts. We must have a Plan B in place for Week 1. That would have been Zane.”
Regarding Robbie Gould, their former kicker who is still unsigned as a free agent:
“Anyone is a possibility.” It’s certainly up for debate.”
Here’s what John Lynch had to say:
Can you go over the timeline of how it could have accelerated today as more teams arrived?
“Yeah. That was probably Wednesday, when [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] informed [QB] Trey [Lance] of the decision, with [QB] Sam [Darnold] as the backup. That, I believe, led to some natural conversations between them. And Kyle came up to my office and simply said, ‘Hey, as we started talking, Trey’s, like he always is, all in.’ However, he did suggest and ask, ‘Hey, if we could find the right opportunity, he would appreciate that.’ He also said he’d be here and continue to compete. And I had the opportunity to speak with Trey, as well as Trey’s agent, and I promised him that I’d look into what was available. So we began that process, which culminated today with Dallas. And it felt like a long time, but it was really only a couple of days where we were talking to teams and teams were reaching out to us, and the end result was what we got.”
Did you give them permission to look for a trade? Is that what occurred?
“We kind of worked on it together, and I told Patrick Collins, his rep, that he could go out and find teams if he wanted.” So we stayed in touch throughout the process. And I want you to know that Trey was fantastic throughout the whole thing. He handled it as well as you could and simply asked if there was a good landing spot, which I’d appreciate, but if I’m here, I’m here.”
You guys gave him all those picks and traded up to get him. Why give up on a guy who’s only 23 and is only halfway through his contract?
“It’s a fair question, and it’s something we discussed extensively internally.” Finally, with Brock being healthy, number one, and we’re excited about that, and Sam being the number two, the reality is that it’s not how everyone works it, but with our system, the number one takes a lot of reps, the number two takes scout team reps, and there’s just not a lot of opportunity. Kyle mentioned getting better, and that’s exactly what he needs to do. He must play in order to improve. And I believe that will be his opportunity. Play, I mean, ideally games, but play is also running a scout team and doing all of those other things. That was not going to happen. So, how do you allow a player to develop? So, in terms of what we put into him, believe me, we take full responsibility. That is our responsibility. As I stated on TV today, I believe his story is largely unwritten. I have a lot of faith in the kid and believe that with his talent and work ethic, he’ll carve out a nice career in this thing. So, I adore the child. Kyle and I saw him light up a little bit when we told him the news today, and he loves it here. He was grateful for the opportunity. Trey, typical Trey, apologized to us when there was nothing to apologize for. And we’re glad he’s got a spot. The Cowboys came up big, which I think shows they’re excited to have him, and we’re excited for Trey’s new opportunity. And we will always be fans.”
It is not the best time to have to trade someone. Are you surprised that you got a fourth-round pick under these circumstances?
“It’s not what it appeared to be when we first started talking. It wasn’t even close. So it did move quickly today. I’m not jumping for joy because my preference would have been for it to work out, and it didn’t. And there are circumstances for this, which we can explain, but the reality is the reality. He had a couple of options. I believe injuries played a role, and given where we are as a team, we felt this was the best situation for us. Also, the best possible situation for him.”
Trey fell behind QB Brock Purdy, which is understandable, but I believe many people are confused about how Trey fell behind QB Sam Darnold. We were there, we watched every snap, and I don’t believe it was obvious to us that Sam was clearly superior. What occurred?
“I believe it was a close battle, and I believe Kyle would agree.” But, in the end, coaches are paid to make those decisions, and they felt collectively that Sam had separated himself, despite Trey competing his tail off. He made significant progress. So I believe we were very proud of his efforts. Sam has had a fantastic camp, and you can see his arm talent and abilities. I believe the same reasons that drew us to bring him here have come to fruition. It will happen, but we felt it was the best decision in the end. And from there, I explained.”
Normally, when teams make a trade like that for a quarterback, it doesn’t work out well for them, but thanks to Brock Purdy, that hasn’t been the case for you. Do you believe you were extremely fortunate?
“I try not to think in that way. It’s not an exact science, but when you invest that much in a player, it’s usually very difficult to recover from. Fortunately, we’ve been able to keep growing this team and improving it. And Brock has been extremely fortunate in his development. Now he has to keep doing it. But, the early returns are encouraging, and everything from his rookie year to the somewhat miraculous, I won’t say miraculous, but he made a hell of a comeback, despite some setbacks, such as starting surgery late and all that. We had to open our eyes and say, okay, he’s cleared, but is he ready? And he kept proving it to us, and then other things happened that led us to where we are.”
It’s a cap game. How much did the salary cap ramifications of, the average quarterback makes a million, the third-string quarterback makes nine times his cap figure, how much did that cap figure and the cap implications play a factor?
“I think Trey is on the minimum this year, but in future years, next year, it goes up quite a bit.” And that coincides with the time when our belongings will become scarce. Of course, this plays a role. We would have loved to have kept all four of those guys in the building, as Kyle stated. And Trey, as everyone should know, is an excellent teammate. He’s a fantastic human being. So there was never any concern that we’d have a dissenter; Trey told us, ‘hey, if I’m here, I’m here and I’m rolling, but if you could, find a spot for me,’ and so there was some level of that and finding a nice landing spot for him. And I believe we succeeded.”
Going back to the process that led you to drafting Trey. And, perhaps in retrospect, how much do you believe you underestimated the gap between where you were as a team and what you needed from the quarterback versus how much he needed to develop and when he needed to develop?
“You know, he hadn’t played a lot of football, so we knew we were taking a risk.” But you know, I still believe that if we hadn’t taken him, someone would have been right behind us. I believe the next selection. As a result, I don’t believe we were the only ones who noticed it. He’s an extremely gifted young man. He has a lot of characteristics that point towards, and believe me, I still believe that story is unwritten, so it didn’t work for us. But I think one of the things we’ve been talking about and thinking about is, you know, [former NFL QB] Steve Young who sat for a while, [former NFL QB] Warren Moon up in Canada, and [former NFL QB] Kurt Warner working in a grocery store. I remain optimistic that he will develop into a player. Now it’s just not going to be for us, and we accept full responsibility for that. Sure, we got lucky with Brock, but that set back our team, and it would’ve been nice to have those picks and all that, so we do own that. And, thankfully, we still have a very good football team that I believe has a legitimate shot. We’re focused on the first game, but we have a championship-caliber roster. Now it’s up to us to make the best of it.”
Do you still believe DE Nick Bosa will be signed by Week 1?
“Yes, I do.” We have a lot of work to do, and we will continue to do it. He’s a fantastic player. We need him here. We require his presence.”
