Chargers’ latest roster addition of Trey Lance should leave fans shaking their heads

The Los Angeles Chargers have been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride in free agency this offseason. That’s likely not how the front office feels about things, but the fanbase would certainly agree with that statement. 

Highlights for the Chargers this offseason include re-signing Khalil Mack and grabbing Super Bowl champion Mekhi Becton. But deals to bring back Mike Williams and allowing Poona Ford to leave in free agency have raised some questions. 

On Friday, the Chargers agreed to terms with a new quarterback, Trey Lance. Though Lance will be battling for the backup quarterback job, a contract that could reach up to $6.2 million with incentives makes little sense. 

There is some upside with Lance, but it’s not much. The fact that he’s still only 24 years old and still has some room for growth is about the extent of it. 

Lance’s career has had a rough start. In the 2021 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers traded three first-round picks and a third-round choice to move up to the No. 3 spot to ensure they were able to select Lance. 

Lance came into that draft with plenty of hype coming out of North Dakota State, but he’s never come close to living up to it. As a rookie in San Francisco, the 49ers used him on a package of plays as the backup to Jimmy Garoppolo, to some success. He threw five touchdown passes that season and rushed for another. 

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He came into the 2022 season with plenty of promise and was named the starter, but that was short-lived as an ankle injury in Week 2 shut him down for the year. He never regained the starting job. 

In 2023, Brock Purdy, the last player picked in the 2022 draft, otherwise known as Mr. Irrelevant, beat him out for the job. Just before the start of the regular season, the Dallas Cowboys acquired him for a fourth-round pick. 

But in two seasons with the Cowboys, he couldn’t beat out Cooper Rush for the backup job and was only active for four games in two seasons. The Cowboys showed no interest in bringing him back this offseason and there were rumors recently of him having to play his next snaps in the Canadian Football League.  

That was, until the Chargers brought him aboard. 

Trey Lance Statistics

The Chargers made some questionable decisions at the quarterback spot last season as well. With Justin Herbert nursing an ankle injury from an early point in training camp, the team made no real attempt to upgrade the backup spot, instead holding onto Easton Stick. They did sign spring league journeyman Luis Perez and Perez easily outplayed Stick, but it was Stick who made the 53-man roster. 

The trade to acquire Taylor Heinicke was a good move, but the team still chose to hold onto Stick. Lance was the player who succeeded Stick at North Dakota State, an interesting tidbit. 

For those who haven’t watched Lance play in the NFL, what he has put on the field is just not good enough. Though the film study below is old, he has never improved at all. 

Lance is arguably one of the worst draft picks of the last decade, maybe longer. The Chargers are going to put him with Jim Harbaugh, Greg Roman and quarterbacks coach Shane Day to see if there is anything to extract from him, but the sample size we have seen so far, though small, has probably been enough. 

He doesn’t even do well in the most basic situations on the field and his ability to read pressure and go through his progressions is way below average. Realistically, Lance is a spring league or CFL quarterback. The Chargers will see if they can somehow change that. 

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