Analysis: Trey Lance hopes Chargers are stepping stone to long NFL career

CANTON, Ohio – You knew Minnesota native Trey Lance was green. But you might not have known he was that green until Sam Monson, an NFL analyst for The 33rd Team, smacked us with a statistic that said Lance had thrown only 781 game passes, including preseason, from the time he was a 16-year-old rising star at Marshall Senior High School until he was named to start the Chargers’ preseason opener against the Lions in Thursday night’s Pro Football Hall of Fame game.

“Trey didn’t get as much playing time in college as most guys,” said Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, referring to the 17 starts Lance made while going 17-0 at North Dakota State before the 49ers traded up to draft him third overall in 2021.

“Then he gets into pro ball, wins the starting job [in 2022] and then gets hurt [in Week 2]. He hasn’t had a lot of game experience so that’s what we’re trying to give him.”

Lance played 47 snaps (73%) as Harbaugh gave him three-quarters of LA’s extra preseason game to prove he can elbow past last year’s backup, former Viking Taylor Heinicke, who did not play.

“Big night for Trey,” Harbaugh said after the 34-7 beatdown of the Lions in a game played by backups. “Played calm. Played cool.”

It was a good, not great, night for Lance. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 120 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers and a 114.6 passer rating.

Meanwhile, it was an awful night for the reigning NFC North champs. Debuting their two new coordinators — John Morton on offense and Kelvin Sheppard on defense — the Lions were discombobulated on both sides of the ball and on special teams, where two of their five turnovers came.

Back to the Chargers, the seemingly sensible urge is to dismiss the 25-year-old Lance as an all-time NFL draft bust. Yes, he’s Minnesotan. He’s One of Us, You Betcha!

But he’s also on his third team in five years. The 49ers ditched him after two seasons and four starts. The Cowboys gave San Francisco a fourth-round pick for Lance and then made him a healthy scratch through the entire 2023 season before playing him in four games with one start as their No. 3 QB last year.

Another urge after watching Lance on Thursday is to remember, for now at least, what Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell has said about teams failing young quarterbacks more often than young quarterbacks failing teams.

Lance is still young enough that he no doubt had more choices than going to the Chargers for one year and up to $6.2 million.

Why, then, does Los Angeles — with a young, established franchise QB in Justin Herbert — represent the best career move for Lance?

“Coming to the Chargers, I knew it was a great opportunity. Justin is a great guy to learn from. Coach Harbaugh and [offensive coordinator Greg Roman], it’s a great situation for me. I want to take a big step, and these four preseason games are a big part of that.”

Lance did appear calm for the most part. But you can tell he’s still very much a work in progress just to go from basically a career No. 3 up to a dependable No. 2.

He fumbled a snap. He let two third-quarter drives stall inside the Detroit 10-yard line. He rushed some throws and checked down short of the sticks a couple times. But …

He also had some great throws, the best of which came on third down on the Chargers’ second possession. A deep out cut by receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith required strength, touch and precision, all of which Lance showed on a 28-yard completion down the right sideline.

“Just licking my chops when I get man on third down,” Lance said. “I know that’s my one-on-one over there. And DeAndre’s been consistent all camp. I trusted him and gave him an opportunity and he came up big.”