NEWSLETTER
Well, there it is. The Trey Lance era in San Francisco is over. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys are finalizing a deal that will send Lance to Dallas in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick.
The Trey Lance era in San Francisco is over.
Two years after going No. 3 overall in the NFL Draft, the once-vaunted quarterback prospect has been relegated to third-string duties. San Francisco sent the 12th overall pick that year; first- and third-round picks in 2022; and a first-round pick in 2023 to Miami for the right to draft Trey Lance.
This isn’t all that surprising, but it is pretty unfortunate for Trey Lance, who never really got a fair shake in San Francisco. Lance had played in eight regular season games in the NFL. Last season’s Week 2 contest against the Seattle Seahawks — where he suffered a fibula fracture and ligament disruption — turns out to be the final regular season game he ever played in a 49ers uniform.
After a rocky training camp and preseason, Lance was notified that he would be the third quarterback — at best — in San Francisco. Lance looked like a rookie quarterback this preseason. I summed it up on Twitter last week by saying that he looks exactly like he did three years ago. In fairness, Lance has lacked opportunity in San Francisco, but, he was fighting for his NFL future in the form of a QB2 battle with Sam Darnold. No room for error existed, regardless of how we arrived here.
The fact is, Trey Lance looked like a quarterback that desperately needs game reps to build confidence and understanding and speed up his processing and delivery. The problem is Brock Purdy is QB1, and at this point, Sam Darnold is QB2. That leaves scraps for Trey Lance. Opportunity is king, and Trey Lance’s opportunities for reps in San Francisco dwindled away to nothing. Now Lance gets a fresh start in Dallas.
What does the Trey Lance trade mean for the Cowboys?
For the paltry price of a fourth-round pick the Cowboys get a lottery ticket in Trey Lance who was once a highly-regarded prospect. They also get a quarterback that likely slots in as Dak Prescott’s primary backup.
Cooper Rush played nine games for the Cowboys last season while Dak Prescott was sidelined with an injury. Rush threw five touchdowns to three interceptions, 1,051 yards, and posted an 80.0 passer rating. Rush was good not great. Trey Lance gives the Cowboys a higher-ceiling player to slot behind Prescott on the depth chart in 2023. It also gives Dallas a potential succession plan in the event that the club decides to move on from Prescott in the near future.
