Sources: Dallas Cowboys Plan to Re-Sign Trey Lance, But Won't Exercise 5th-Year Option
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys entered the 2023 NFL Draft wishing to use a mid-round pick on an affordable developmental quarterback to work behind Dak Prescott. The chips didn't quite fall that way, but the mindset was the same when at the start of the season they traded a mid-round pick (a fourth-rounder) for a quarterback who has yet to develop in Trey Lance.
The same concept. A different path. And now the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, who is still just 23, is a member of the Cowboys.
How long will Lance remain that way? There is this season and 2024 left on his rookie contract. It pays him $940,000 this season; that's extremely affordable for a look. And it is a guaranteed $5.3 million in 2024; that's still affordable, especially if Lance improves.
Jones, Prescott and Lan
But then? The Cowboys, two sources tell CowboysSI.com, do not plan to exercise the fifth-year option on Lance in the spring of 2025, as that would cost about $25 million. ... but do plan on finding a way to keep him in Dallas.
The trick, short of Lance miraculously blossoming into being a better player than Prescott (which Dallas does not foresee as it continues to plan for a massive contract extension for the team leader) is to find a middle ground: Can Lance become a good-enough backup to merit a cap-friendly extension here ... as opposed to becoming so good (somehow) that he can get his $25 million-plus elsewhere?
Lance tells CowboysSI.com that he found an immediate comfort zone in the Dallas locker room upon his arrival here and "was in Dak's ear every day'' that first week. ... and that since then, he joked, "I'm just trying to stay out of the way.''
In reality, Lance - who the 49ers thought was so grand a prospect that they traded three first-round picks for Miami's spot to take him - has been a helper on scout team in practice. Another reality: Dallas isn't overblowing his potential; the Cowboys never thought him worthy of three first-rounders; the Cowboys had a second-round grade on him.
And one more: Though stranger things have happened, this isn't about "leverage'' in the Prescott negotiations; Lance has never demonstrated that he is a threat on that level.
Said COO Stephen Jones recently: “(Prescott) is under contract now, but we’d like to do this (Dak extension) after the season. Once the season is over, we will focus on that. Dak will be our quarterback.”
Lance as a prospect, however, might impact the Dallas future of backup QB Cooper Rush. The Cowboys have him under contract for 2023 and 2024 (at $5 million total), and he's proved he can bus-drive this offense to success. He's also a trusted ear and voice for Prescott.
So, in one positive future scenario, Dallas employs a surplus of quarterbacks who can play, and ends up flipping one of them in a trade. ... and in that scenario, as long as that trade (of either Rush or Lance) nets the Cowboys something better than a fourth-rounder, it's a win.
Or, in another: Dallas keeps the trio for 2024, then says goodbye to Rush for 2025 and hands the No. 2 job to Lance, who will have signed on via a reasonable deal. ... and the Cowboys feel good about "star'' Dak Prescott being aided by "proven backup'' Trey Lance.
