The Denver Broncos lost one of their backup quarterbacks -- former first-round pick Zach Wilson -- to the Miami Dolphins in 2025 NFL Free Agency. The next logical step? Go and sign the guy who was taken just one pick after him in the 2021 NFL Draft: Former 49ers draft pick Trey Lance.
The Denver Broncos were in the market for a quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft class and it seemed like they had really taken a liking to Lance. The only problem? The Broncos were picking 9th overall at the time and Lance was one of the most coveted players in a seemingly loaded class of quarterbacks.
The San Francisco 49ers moved heaven and earth to get up to the 3rd overall pick to select Lance, and he flamed out rather quickly as their potential QB of the future before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys for a 4th-round pick back in 2023.
Now, Lance is a free agent and the Broncos have an opening for a third quarterback. The reclamation project quarterback is very much en vogue in today's NFL and with very little risk attached, there is every reason to see what can be unearthed from this former top-three pick.
Trey Lance makes a ton of sense as Denver Broncos QB3 in 2025
If there was ever part of Broncos GM George Paton or head coach Sean Payton that liked Lance in the 2021 NFL Draft class, then they already have every reason to go ahead and bring him in on the cheap. Lance is still 24 years old and won't turn 25 until May. Shockingly, he is younger than Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix, who is only just now fresh off of his rookie season.
Lance just completed his rookie contract.
With the late emergence of other quarterbacks around the league, there is truly no reason to believe that Lance's career is over at this point. Acquiring Lance would arguably make even more sense than did acquiring a player like Zach Wilson last year because it cost the Broncos a 6th-round pick to get Wilson away from the Jets.
And unlike Wilson, Lance could actually contribute to the Denver Broncos' offense right away.
It is a great mystery that the Dallas Cowboys acquired Lance in a trade with the 49ers without the intent of using him as a gadget player offensively. Lance ran for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdown during his breakout year at North Dakota State and was a much more refined runner coming out of the college level than he was a passer, even though his arm talent is outstanding.
You have a head coach in Sean Payton who has been obsessed in the past with finding diamonds in the rough, moving guys from one position to another or taking a basketball player and turning him into an elite, All-Pro tight end. Nothing has been off-limits for Payton in the past, so why can't Trey Lance be a dart throw as a Taysom Hill type of player?
The Broncos need offensive weapons, and Lance is an outstanding ball carrier. You're already going to need a third quarterback to come in and eat some snaps in the preseason, so why not have it be someone like Lance? He's a wild card who could end up giving you more than just a clipboard holder 3rd quarterback.
Sean Payton has always been big into reclamation projects. Last year he called them "orphan dogs" and he's made it his personal mission to. get QBs on the right track in the past. Lance could be the next one, even though he would clearly be behind both Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham.