NFL Rumors: 3 Trey Lance trade destinations after 49ers make Darnold QB2

A lot can change in over two years in the NFL. For Trey Lance, he saw himself go from being a quarterback at North Dakota State to being selected third overall by the San Francisco 49ers to be the face of the franchise. He didn't start at all in 2021, instead sitting behind Jimmy Garoppolo, who led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game. In 2022, he logged just two starts, one a bad outing in rainy Chicago against the Bears and in Week 2, where he broke his leg against the Seattle Seahawks.

This offseason, the 49ers had a tough decision to make about their quarterback depth chart. Brock Purdy, who led San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game last year after filling in for Garoppolo, who broke his foot late in the season, was expected to be the starter once he was cleared from an elbow injury. With that, Lance had to compete with veteran Sam Darnold for the backup job.

On Wednesday, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport reported that Darnold has won the backup quarterback job, and the 49ers will now explore their options with Lance.

When looking at "explore options," one of them has to be a trade. After all, the team did reportedly receive interest from teams earlier this offseason. If that is indeed the case, here are three destinations for Lance.

Trey Lance trade destinations after 49ers make Darnold QB2, No. 3: Minnesota Vikings

One team that has made sense for quite some time is the Minnesota Vikings, due in part to the uncertain future of Kirk Cousins.

The Vikings have made a plethora of moves this offseason, some of them being the parting of ways with mainstays on the team, such as wide receiver Adam Thielen, linebacker Eric Kendricks, and running back Dalvin Cook. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell are building the team in their image.

For Cousins, he is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this upcoming season. This offseason, there were no talks about an extension to keep Cousins around past this campaign. It would make sense for the team to look for a potential replacement option.

Lance is under contract for the next two seasons at minimum if a team doesn't pick up his fifth-year option. The cost to get Lance wouldn't be much for the Vikings, who can have him in the organization, study the playbook, and eventually determine via practices if he can be a viable replacement option.

Not to mention, Rapoport name-dropped the Vikings as a landing spot that "makes sense."