FRISCO – The Trey Lance experiment appears over, because the quarterback wasn’t good enough for it to ever really begin.
Just 18 months and one regular-season start after the Dallas Cowboys’ surprising trade for him, the former No. 3 overall draft pick quarterback is officially not in the team’s future plans. Vice president Stephen Jones said on Monday that he expects Lance to leave in free agency, and for the Cowboys to pick a developmental quarterback in April’s NFL Draft.
“We took a shot on Trey, and wanted to do that,” Jones told The Dallas Morning News. “We think the world of Trey. But us having Dak Prescott signed up for the long-term, I think he’s probably going to be looking for something different.”
In a move that surprised most around the league, the Cowboys traded a fourth-round draft choice to the San Francisco 49ers for Lance just before the 2023 season opener. Critics – including here and otherwise – lampooned a deal that sent draft capital in exchange for a quarterback who was running fourth-string in San Francisco.
After sitting out most of 2023, Lance got his chance to supplant Cooper Rush as Prescott’s backup in 2024. But in the preseason finale he threw five interceptions, and was underwhelming in his only start in the teams’ last regular season game. He completed 20 of 34 passes for 244 yards and rushed for 26 in the 23-19 loss to the Washington Commanders.
Lance showed flashes of his athleticism and elusiveness as a runner, but was predominantly inconsistent and off-target as a passer.
Now, the Cowboys are prepared to choose a rookie over Lance as its long-haul quarterback prospect.
“I think one of our goals is to get a young quarterback in the draft,” Jones said. “I don’t know where that’s going to be. That’s why we gave a [fourth-round pick] for Trey. It seems like all the quarterbacks, even guys we have in the fourth round, go in the first. They always go so much higher than what you think.”
Under rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer in 2025 Prescott will be the starter, backed up again by Rush. If, that is, the Cowboys decide to re-sign him in free agency.
“You know how much we think of Cooper,” Jones said. “We just don’t know what he’s going to cost. When we’re paying Dak what we’re paying him, unfortunately we do have to go cheap there.”
