Uncertainty of Trey Lance wouldn’t be worth trading Kenny Pickett
From the second overall pick in 2021 to the third overall pick, I still don’t think the Steelers would bite on a trade that would send Kenny Pickett to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for Trey Lance. There were rumors that Pittsburgh really liked Lance during the pre-draft process, but I thought he went too high in the draft.
Despite coming from a non-Power 5 school at North Dakota State and with very little college experience, Lance still managed to go over Justin Fields in the 2021 NFL Draft. In fact, the 49ers traded up for him.
While nobody is denying that arm talent and upside that Lance possesses, it would be an enormous risk to trade for the second-year quarterback. The biggest factor here is that Lance can’t seem to stay on the field. After throwing just 71 passes as a rookie in what was essentially a redshirt year, Lance played in just 2 games in 2022 before a broken ankle ended his sophomore season.
Not only is his season-ending injury cause for concern, but Lance did not look very good in the two games that he did play in to begin the year. The book hasn’t been written on Trey Lance, and if he figures it all out, he will probably be better than Kenny Pickett, but that isn’t a chance the Steelers organization would be willing to take if they offered it to them.