Rams must give Trey Lance one last chance to revive NFL career

Lance’s NFL career appears dead, but not if Sean McVay can help it

With Jimmy Garoppolo re-signed as Matthew Stafford’s backup, the Los Angeles Rams have no use for another quarterback. Even then, neither Garoppolo nor Stafford will be in Hollywood forever, so the Rams must plan for the future. That said, L.A. should give Trey Lance one last chance to revive his NFL career.

Lance hasn’t seen the field enough to justify his first-round status. The North Dakota State product dealt with injuries and mismanagement with the 49ers, then could never cut it as the Cowboys’ backup to Dak Prescott.

Truthfully, he has never gotten a fair enough shake to show the league what he can do.

But why bother trying to find anything salvageable in the Niners’ trash? For crying out loud, this was the same player who threw 5 interceptions in a preseason game last year.

I’ve twice written about how the Rams should acquire Lance. Los Angeles would be the ideal destination for him to learn since he is a free agent and will only be 25 years old entering the season.

Sean McVay is a quarterback guru, having revived signal callers like Jared Goff (early in his career), Baker Mayfield and to an extent, Carson Wentz. That alone cannot be overstated. Plus, Lance would be learning under Stafford, who remains one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, especially in the NFC where the cupboard is quite bare.

Lance made a mistake by not returning to school when he did. If he had, he’d likely have been the first QB taken in the horrid 2022 draft. There’s no way in hell Kenny Pickett is a more polished option than he is.

However, that doesn’t mean Lance deserves to be punished for having a rough start to his career. Lance is not blameless by any stretch of the imagination, but teams have zero patience in developing young, raw quarterbacks. Very rarely do you see teams willing to stay patient with their guys like the Bills were with Josh Allen.

Kyle Shanahan seemingly had no clue how to use Lance, and that, mixed with San Francisco’s Super Bowl expectations, was a recipe for the young gun’s success.

As expected, Lance will not have many suitors after Dallas cut him. First-round failures like him—particularly QBs—rarely see another chance after striking out with their second team. Currently. Lance’s career is on the Josh Rosen trajectory—initially overhyped before fading into irrelevancy.

To prevent Lance from going down that path, pairing him with McVay might be the only option. Of course, the Rams also have Stetson Bennett on the roster. There’s no need for Trey unless the two duke it out to be QB3 behind Jimmy G. I’m well aware the odds of L.A. signing Lance are slim, but slim odds are better than none at all.