Trey Lance recently signed a one-year deal worth up to $6.2 million with the Los Angeles Chargers. While the move raised plenty of eyebrows, Skip Bayless wasn’t among the skeptics. In fact, he’s surprisingly optimistic, suggesting that head coach Jim Harbaugh sees shades of a quarterback he once coached in San Francisco in Lance.
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To clarify, Lance’s new contract is a bit misleading at first glance. While it appears to be a $6.2 million deal for one season, it’s actually a $2 million contract with $1.5 million guaranteed. The deal can only reach $6.2 million through playtime incentives—which will be tough to hit, given that Justin Herbert is ahead of him on the depth chart. But if you listen to Bayless, that hurdle might not be so daunting.
The analyst made a bold claim on his YouTube channel, saying he could see Lance working out the way Colin Kaepernick once did for Harbaugh in San Fran. He even claimed that Harbaugh signed Lance specifically because of this.
“Now, I believe Jim Harbaugh is thinking Colin Kaepernick,” Bayless said before noting that Harbaugh saw Lance up close during a preseason game last year — and may have liked what he saw.
“I believe Harbaugh saw some Kaepernick. I believe Harbaugh flew back to LA that night thinking, ‘Man, I could work with that.’ Trey Lance is still only 24 years of age. He’s 6’4” tall by 225 lbs. And to me, he looks faster in pads while being chased than he timed at the Combine, which was 4.69. Big arm, strong work ethic. Yeah, some Kaepernick there for sure.”
Bayless went on to support his claim by referencing how Kaepernick got his shot under Harbaugh. Back in 2012, number one overall pick Alex Smith was leading the 49ers. Despite the team’s 6-2-1 record at the time, Harbaugh benched Smith in Week 11 in favor of Kaepernick.
Colin didn’t have much flash. He was a second-year, second-round pick out of the University of Nevada, but Harbaugh believed he could take the team further than Smith could. And ultimately, he was mostly right.
It would be wild to see this play out next year with Herbert and Lance. The latter is considered one of the biggest busts in recent memory, while the former is viewed as one of the biggest quarterback hits in recent draft history. And this is exactly where Bayless’ argument starts to fall apart.
Herbert is far more established than Smith was at the time of his replacement. If the Chargers have a winning record next season and Herbert is benched like Smith was in 2012, fans would be calling for Harbaugh’s resignation. Bayless claims he doesn’t think Harbaugh is completely sold on Herbie, but he had no evidence to support that.
Chalk this one up to another wild take from Bayless just to get some free airtime. It’s what he’s become known for at this stage in his career. And if he’s right about this one, calling the general public surprised would be an understatement. Lance is on nobody’s radar right now.
