A Family Redeemed? Bryce Lance Drafted by Saints as Trey Lance's Story Takes a New Turn
When the New Orleans Saints called Bryce Lance's name with the 136th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft on April 25, 2026, it wasn't just a wide receiver heading to the bayou — it was a family narrative coming full circle. Bryce is the younger brother of Trey Lance, the quarterback whose name became synonymous with NFL draft bust after going No. 3 overall to the San Francisco 49ers in 2021. Five years later, both brothers are now in the NFL, and the contrast between their draft stories tells you something important about how football careers — and family legacies — actually work.
According to NBC Sports, the Saints selected Bryce Lance as a wide receiver out of North Dakota State University, the same FCS program where Trey made his name before becoming one of the most scrutinized quarterback prospects in recent draft history. The pick drew immediate attention not just for its football merit, but for the story underneath it — a second Lance brother getting his shot, this time with far lower expectations and, perhaps, far greater runway.
Trey Lance: Understanding the "Bust" Label
To understand why Bryce's selection resonates so deeply, you have to understand what happened to Trey. The San Francisco 49ers traded up to select Trey Lance with the third overall pick in 2021, sending a haul of draft capital to the Miami Dolphins to move into position. The pick was polarizing from the start — Lance had played only one full season of college football at NDSU due to COVID-19 canceling the 2020 FCS season, and questions about his readiness were immediate and loud.
What followed was a cascade of bad luck, poor timing, and genuine developmental struggles. Lance started just 11 games across three seasons in San Francisco, throwing 14 touchdowns against 11 interceptions before the 49ers cut him in August 2024. The injuries were relentless — a broken ankle in 2022 cost him nearly an entire season — but even in the stretches where he played, he never commanded the offense with the authority the 49ers needed from a No. 3 overall pick. As Yahoo Sports notes, Trey now plays for the Los Angeles Chargers, where he's working to rebuild his career and prove that his early struggles were circumstantial rather than definitive.
The "bust" label is real but also incomplete. Trey Lance was placed in an impossible situation — asked to replace a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo, handed a system that didn't maximize his skills, and given almost no margin for error from an impatient franchise and media. The 49ers ultimately drafted Brock Purdy in the seventh round of 2022, found their answer, and moved on. Whether Trey Lance's story has another chapter remains an open question, but what's not in question is how heavily that baggage has followed the Lance name into every conversation about his brother.
Bryce Lance's Remarkable Rise at NDSU
If Trey's path was defined by outside pressure and circumstance, Bryce's rise has been almost entirely self-made. His story at North Dakota State didn't start with fanfare — it started with a single catch in 2023, his first season with the Bison. That's not a misprint. One reception. The kind of start that ends most players' ambitions before they begin.
What happened next is the part that matters. According to Heavy.com, incoming NDSU head coach Tim Polasek directly challenged Bryce Lance during a 2024 practice. Polasek looked at a player with elite physical tools who wasn't producing and demanded more. The challenge landed. Bryce responded by having one of the most productive wide receiver seasons in recent NDSU history: 75 receptions for 1,071 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2024. He didn't just improve — he became one of the most dangerous receivers in FCS football.
Then came the decision that defined his character. Bryce Lance turned down significant financial offers from Big Ten programs to remain at NDSU for his senior season. In the current era of NIL and transfer portal chaos, that kind of loyalty to a program — particularly when big-money alternatives are on the table — is genuinely rare. The payoff was another elite season: 51 receptions for 1,079 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2025, averaging a stunning 21.2 yards per catch. That yards-per-reception number isn't a product of garbage time or scheme exploitation — it reflects a player who wins deep routes and turns routine catches into explosive plays.
At the NFL Combine, Bryce backed his film with a 41.5-inch vertical leap, a measurement that puts him in rarefied company for wide receivers and explains the big-play ability on tape. As the Inforum detailed, his trajectory from bench player to NFL draft pick in the span of two seasons is one of the more compelling development stories of the entire 2026 draft class.
The NDSU Pipeline and What It Means for Both Brothers
North Dakota State has developed an unusual reputation as a quarterback factory — Carson Wentz, Trey Lance, and a line of successful FCS-to-NFL transitions — but the Bison program is actually built on something broader: a culture of accountability and development that produces NFL-caliber talent across positions, not just under center.
Both Lance brothers played at NDSU, and that's not coincidence. The program's identity is built around playing your role, earning your reps, and trusting a system that has a track record. The fact that Bryce stayed when he could have chased bigger offers, responded to a coach's challenge when he could have sulked, and then delivered back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons speaks to an environment that produces character alongside football production.
For Trey Lance, now trying to revive his career with the Los Angeles Chargers, his brother's success is meaningful in a specific way. The NDSU connection is being validated again, and whatever doubts existed about whether Trey's college production was product of a weak FCS system now have a counterargument in real time. MSN Sports notes the full family connection and how the Lance family, who attended the 2021 draft in Cleveland together when Trey was selected, now has two sons with NFL futures ahead of them.
What Bryce Lance Brings to the New Orleans Saints
The Saints, coming off a period of roster reconstruction following the Drew Brees era and a series of salary cap challenges, are building through the draft. Selecting a wide receiver with elite athleticism and big-play capability in the fourth round is precisely the kind of value pick that sustains franchise depth. Bryce Lance isn't being asked to be a WR1 immediately — he's being asked to develop, contribute in his role, and use that 41.5-inch vertical to cause problems in the red zone and on go routes.
New Orleans has historically valued receiver talent that can stress defenses vertically. Bryce's 21.2 yards-per-catch average in his final college season is the sort of number that offensive coordinators notice. If his route running catches up to his athleticism — a reasonable expectation given how quickly his overall game developed between 2023 and 2025 — the Saints have found genuine depth with upside at a fraction of the cost of a premium pick.
Fourth-round wide receivers rarely become stars immediately, but the ones who do are almost always the ones who arrive with elite athleticism, a proven work ethic, and a chip on their shoulder. Bryce Lance has all three.
What This Means: The Broader Narrative Around the Lance Family
The instinct in sports media is to frame Bryce Lance's draft story entirely through the lens of Trey's bust narrative, but that framing does a disservice to both brothers. Trey Lance's NFL struggles weren't a verdict on NDSU talent, on the Lance family's football genes, or on Bryce's future. They were the product of a specific set of circumstances at the NFL level — circumstances that have derailed plenty of high picks who weren't carrying the weight of a family legacy into every conversation.
What Bryce Lance's selection actually demonstrates is something more nuanced: that individual development matters more than pedigree, that late bloomers with elite tools can outperform early projections, and that a single bad outcome — even one as public and scrutinized as Trey Lance's time in San Francisco — doesn't define a family's relationship with the sport.
If Bryce succeeds in New Orleans, it won't retroactively fix what went wrong for Trey in San Francisco. But it will add depth to a story that's been told too simply. And if Trey continues to develop with the Chargers while Bryce finds his footing with the Saints, the Lance family could end up being one of the more interesting brother tandems in the NFL — not because of one spectacular pick, but because of two brothers who took completely different paths to the same destination.
The difference between a bust and a late bloomer is often less about talent than about the system, the timing, and the margin for error each player is given. Bryce Lance was given none of his brother's hype — and that might be exactly what he needed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Trey Lance and Bryce Lance
Who is Bryce Lance and how is he related to Trey Lance?
Bryce Lance is a wide receiver who was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round (136th overall) of the 2026 NFL Draft. He is the younger brother of Trey Lance, the quarterback currently on the roster of the Los Angeles Chargers. Both brothers played college football at North Dakota State University (NDSU).
Why is Trey Lance considered a draft bust?
Trey Lance was selected No. 3 overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2021 NFL Draft, making him one of the highest-profile picks of his class. He never established himself as the starter the 49ers envisioned, dealing with significant injuries — including a season-ending broken ankle in 2022 — and inconsistent play when healthy. The 49ers released him in August 2024, and Brock Purdy, a seventh-round pick from the same draft class, became their franchise quarterback instead. The combination of the high pick value spent and the lack of production is why Lance carries the bust label, though his career is not yet over.
How good was Bryce Lance at North Dakota State?
After a difficult first year with just one reception in 2023, Bryce Lance became one of the most productive receivers in NDSU history. In 2024 he caught 75 passes for 1,071 yards and 17 touchdowns. In his final season (2025) he had 51 receptions for 1,079 yards and 8 touchdowns while averaging 21.2 yards per catch. He also posted a 41.5-inch vertical leap at the NFL Combine, demonstrating elite athleticism to go with his production.
Did Bryce Lance have other college offers before being drafted?
Yes. Before his senior season at NDSU, Bryce Lance reportedly turned down significant financial offers from Big Ten programs to stay with the Bison. In the current NIL era, that decision stands out as unusual and speaks to his loyalty to the program and his desire to finish what he started.
Where does Trey Lance currently play?
As of 2026, Trey Lance is a quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers. After being released by the San Francisco 49ers in 2024, he has been working to rebuild his NFL career and prove that his struggles with the 49ers don't represent his ceiling as a professional quarterback.
Conclusion: Two Brothers, Two Different Drafts, One Continuing Story
The 2026 NFL Draft gave the Lance family something the 2021 draft couldn't: a quiet moment of progress. When the New Orleans Saints called Bryce Lance's name in the fourth round, there was no massive trade, no national spectacle, no impossible expectations. There was just a receiver with a 41.5-inch vertical, two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, and a chip on his shoulder the size of his brother's first-round contract.
The Trey Lance story isn't finished — his work with the Chargers is ongoing, and careers have been rebuilt from far worse circumstances. But the chapter being written in New Orleans is a new one, and it belongs entirely to Bryce. His journey from recording one catch in 2023 to hearing his name in the NFL Draft in 2026 is a testament to what responding to a coach's challenge, staying loyal to a program, and betting on your own development can produce.
The family that watched Trey get drafted in Cleveland in 2021 now has two sons with NFL futures. Whatever comes next, the Lance name in professional football is no longer just a cautionary tale about draft capital and high expectations. It's becoming something more complicated, more human, and ultimately more interesting than that.
