Now that the Cowboys are heading into Week 3 of the NFL season, with Dak Prescott under contract and a 1-1 record in the books, the team’s future at quarterback is not quite the issue it once was. Hard to believe that just 12 days ago, Prescott’s future tenure as a Cowboys was the major issue in Dallas, not the state of the running-back room or the defensive line.
And 12 days ago, there was still a pathway toward quarterback Trey Lance playing a role in the Cowboys’ future, especially if the threat of a Prescott free agency loomed in March. But now that Prescott is locked up, and with Cooper Rush sealed as the team’s backup, Lance is simply a roster hanger-on.
The Cowboys could keep Lance on the 53-man throughout the season, and have him go through another year without taking a meaningful snap. Or they could seek to trade Lance, though there is probably not much they could get for him at this point, as he himself approaches free agency.
Unless, that is, they could convince the Dolphins, who are facing the possibility of losing Tua Tagovailoa for the season—and possibly for good—with another concussion to take on Lance sooner rather than later with a pre-deadline trade.
Trey Lance Has ‘Very Good Chance’ of Going to Dolphins
The injury to Tagovailoa and his NFL future was a subject of discussion on this weeks edition of “The Spotrac Podcast,” and Mike Ginnitti, editor and contract expert for the site, threw in what is surely an interesting nugget about Lance.
The Dolphins signed free-agent quarterback Tyler Huntley this week, and he could eventually replace backup Skylar Thompson, who filled in for Tagovailoa after he was injured in Week 2. Thompson is expected to start in Week 3, but Huntley has starting experience.
But keep an eye on Lance, who was drafted by the 49ers back when Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was an assistant in San Francisco.
“There were some other options that got floated around, but that one seems to make sense from a fit standpoint to what Mike McDaniel is trying to do in Miami, just to kind of keep this band together or at least Band-Aid this thing for the next 15 weeks,” Ginnitti said. … But I think there is a very good chance that Trey Lance is on the Miami Dolphins roster in 2025 as a signed free agent.”
Cowboys Trade Would Make Sense
Why wait, though? With few other options, the Cowboys would surely dump Lance for the low price of, say, a sixth-round pick. It would be egg-on-the-face for Dallas, having given up a fourth-rounder to get Lance to begin with, but the alternative is to lose him for nothing in six months.
As it stands, the Cowboys have little left to do with Lance but to keep him on the roster until the remaining $5.3 million on his contract dries up. The Cowboys, to no one’s surprise, did not pick up his fifth-year option when they had the chance last winter, and he has never played a down for Dallas in the regular season.
Lance has four games of starting experience under his belt, and has gone 2-2 in those games. His best game came in Week 16 of the 2021 season, when he threw for 249 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in a win over Houston.
He started the first two games of the 2022 season for the 49ers, but was injured in his second outing and has not gotten back on the field consistently since.
