The offseason trade that sent Trey Lance, the third overall pick in 2021 and a former first-round pick of the 49ers, to Dallas is still strange for the Cowboys. Not only has Lance not played a snap for the team this season, but he has also solidified his position as the team’s third wide receiver, behind Dak Prescott, the starting quarterback, and Cooper Rush, the backup who has filled in for Prescott six times so far. Lance is so low-key that at the trade deadline, he hardly made an appearance in Cowboys rumors.
In his third season in the NFL, Lance, who is 23 years old, needs to get on the field. In his eight career NFL appearances, he has only completed 56 passes.
Lance’s development has essentially been squandered during this year. Following their August acquisition of Lance for a fourth-round pick, the Cowboys will now need to decide whether to retain him or cut him loose. Lance is very much on the “roster bubble” for the Cowboys in 2024, per the contract website Spotrac.
According to NFL contract expert Mike Ginnitti, Trey Lance’s entire 2024 salary of $5.3 million is guaranteed. It’s difficult to think he’s tradeable (again), so Dallas will have to pay him to leave or turn him into an above-average paid QB2 for the upcoming campaign.
Trey Lance’s retention would waste cap space.
The Cowboys will not find these to be very tasty options. Rush has a one-year, $2.25 million option to remain on staff as the backup. That option is not only more cost-effective than cutting Rush loose and moving Lance up to No. 2, but it also promotes greater stability, as Rush has spent 10 of his 12 NFL seasons with the Cowboys.
However, keeping Rush would mean giving up Lance. And for a player who did not contribute anything to the team during the season, that means giving him a salary of $5.3 million and forfeiting the 2024 fourth-round pick. When the 2024 season begins, he will have been off the field for almost two years, so the Cowboys may try to trade him again. No one will want to give up assets for Trey Lance in that situation, as Ginnitti points out.
The Cowboys are reportedly planning to retain Lance, according to rumors that were first reported by SI.com’s Mike Fisher in October.
According to two sources who spoke with CowboysSI.com, the Cowboys do not intend to exercise Lance’s fifth-year option in the spring of 2025 because doing so would cost them approximately $25 million. Fisher wrote, “I do plan on finding a way to keep him in Dallas, though.
Dak Prescott Will Be the Subject of Cowboys Rumors
The idea behind the Cowboys’ unexpected acquisition of Lance in the summer was that he might be used as a negotiating chip when the team met to discuss a new contract with Prescott, who is expected to receive a significant extension. The belief was that the Cowboys could assert assurance.
That approach has unraveled, though, as Prescott has had—despite some rough outings in the past two weeks—an MVP-caliber season. The Cowboys will have to pay Prescott handsomely, and neither Prescott’s reps nor any other sentient being with even a mild grasp of football would buy the notion that the Cowboys would dump Prescott for Trey Lance.
