© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
The 49ers’ goal of improving their depth at quarterback has clearly been achieved. General manager John Lynch stated explicitly this offseason that San Francisco could not afford to lose another year to injuries at that spot, given that Jimmy Garoppolo has missed more time to injury than he’s played by a significant margin.
So, after evaluating a number of options, which included Matthew Stafford, Deshaun Watson and a last-minute check on Aaron Rodgers, they went the rookie route, drafting Trey Lance, with Mac Jones reportedly also in final consideration. NFL Network’s Jim Trotter reported, after a conversation with CEO Jed York, that Jones was roughly the 49ers’ safety option.
One draft analyst, Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline, predicted that the 49ers would draft Lance, saying that he had a source tell him Lance was always the pick. On Thursday, Pauline reported that the 49ers hoped to sign Andy Dalton, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Chicago Bears and the fact that the 49ers didn’t sign Dalton frustrated Kyle Shanahan.
The third part of that plan was to trade away Garoppolo (a necessity given his and Garoppolo’s combined cap hits) and to draft Lance.
I was told from the day they traded to the third spot, it was Trey Lance and they would keep Jimmy Garoppolo around for another season. I said as much in an article the Sunday before the draft when we broke the news it was down to Lance and Mac Jones. During The Draft Insiders podcast at the start of April, I said it was premature to write Jones in as the third pick in mock drafts and I was ridiculed.
They wanted to sign Andy Dalton in free agency as their veteran quarterback and then trade Garoppolo and draft Lance. I’m told Shanahan was pretty upset when they did not land Dalton.
I stated all along Lance was the best fit for the Shanahan offense. He processes information quicker than Fields, and his arm strength and physical skills are light years ahead of Jones.
David Lombardi of The Athletic confirmed the report, but suggested the 49ers wanted both Dalton and Garoppolo because if they had wanted Dalton, they would have offered more than Chicago. You can assess that logic for yourself, but the 49ers did have interest in Dalton.
Yes, I can confirm that the 49ers indeed wanted Andy Dalton, and they probably were disappointed that the Bears pushed him out of their price range. But yeah, beyond that, not much here. If SF had wanted Dalton to replace Garoppolo, they'd have been able to beat Chicago's offer https://t.co/knHJfsL9mP
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) May 7, 2021