NFL world rips John Lynch’s Trey Lance trade comments

The San Francisco 49ers officially ended the Trey Lance experiment on Friday. After trading Lance to the Dallas Cowboys, 49ers general manager John Lynch was in the booth during the team’s final preseason game. Lynch’s comments have generally not been well received.

Lynch started the interview by saying it was “a really hard day” and calling Lance a “wonderful young man.”

He then went deeper into the trade.

“We took a shot and it didn’t work out. We own that. We take accountability for it. But I think, as I think you guys do, his story is still very much unwritten. And I’m excited for Trey. Dallas stepped up and really wanted him. They came after him. And I think it’s gonna be a great landing spot for him. I can tell everybody it wasn’t for lack of effort on Trey’s part, or on our part that it didn’t work. Circumstances took hold and he struggled through injuries.”

Lynch then spoke highly of the team’s three remaining quarterbacks, Brock Purdy, Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen before saying, “We wish Trey all the best in Dallas. We’ll always care about that young man and admire his work ethic and the person that he is.”

People hearing Lynch’s words were less than enthusiastic about what he said.

It doesn’t seem as though there have been any consequences for Lynch, Kyle Shanahan or anyone else with the 49ers. So, it would be interesting to hear what Lynch means when he says “we take accountability for it.”

Despite that, this move is actually quite defensible. The 49ers were never going to get the return for Lance that they gave up to get him. And as the team’s third-string (or maybe even fourth-string) quarterback, he was unlikely to do much to help the team going forward.