CFZ The murky thinking behind the Trey Lance trade

[MarcusRock]

But I also agree the Cowboys made a mistake not giving Lance more opportunities last year. I hope they give him lots of playing time in preseason. If he shines maybe then he becomes trade bait. It would be awesome for Dallas to squeeze a 1st or 2nd round pick out of a trade for Lance. It is also a pipe dream.

Don't know about that. If he wasn't ready and stunk up the joint, even in garbage time situations, then you lose all leverage you might have wanted against Dak or for flipping him for a higher draft pick. Much better to showcase him against vanilla preseason defenses to give him every opportunity to shine. And we ain't getting a 1st or 2nd even if he shines in preseason. Pipe dream indeed.

 

[Coogiguy03]

I think it’s creating Dallas cap relief with a 2 year extension/restructure while still evaluating Lance this year in camp. I’d assume the plan is to have him compete for QB2 and let things play out from there. If he gets meaningful snaps at all and shows promise I think you’ll see the direction they’ll go.

are they really ready to part ways, he would have to play really well in the pre season, and god forbid dak got hurt, and he continued to play well, it may be hard for dak to get back in

 

[Coogiguy03]

Don't know about that. If he wasn't ready and stunk up the joint, even in garbage time situations, then you lose all leverage you might have wanted against Dak or for flipping him for a higher draft pick. Much better to showcase him against vanilla preseason defenses to give him every opportunity to shine. And we ain't getting a 1st or 2nd even if he shines in preseason. Pipe dream indeed.

rack pipe dream!!!!!!

 

[MarcusRock]

The plan was to get a former 1st round pick for a 4th rounder. Lance is this years 4th round pick. He’ll have a chance to prove himself a bit in preseason where he will get a lot of playing time. Only then will they have an idea on what to do with Lance. If the Cowboys extend Dak, then he’ll be trade bait for another team. This is why it’s important to get Lance on film in preseason games to hopefully increase his value. If somehow he lights it up in preseason, then the conversation gets difficult.

He's this year's 4th Round pick with a 1-year contract. Having just about everything come down to preseason showings is risky business. But you don't clean up unless you make the bet.

 

[Bobhaze]

Jerry did the right thing. We basically gave up close to nothing on a young QB with the tools to be good if he can be honed. I cant bash Jerry for that. I doubt MM had any issue with it either. Its a nonstory.

It may work out…hope it does. But as for it being a “non-story”…it’s only a non-story in Dallas. If this had happened with any other team, it would be considered a big story.

CBS Sports had an interesting article on this last Sept:
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...-mccarthy-i-can-make-that-trade-in-5-minutes/

 

[Bobhaze]

The plan was to get a former 1st round pick for a 4th rounder. Lance is this years 4th round pick. He’ll have a chance to prove himself a bit in preseason where he will get a lot of playing time. Only then will they have an idea on what to do with Lance. If the Cowboys extend Dak, then he’ll be trade bait for another team. This is why it’s important to get Lance on film in preseason games to hopefully increase his value. If somehow he lights it up in preseason, then the conversation gets difficult.

“Lance is this year’s 4th round pick” is a good way of looking at it Rock.

 

[Creeper]

hey hey hey dak's agent "we have the unknown kid in Lance, you better tell your client he better bring his number down, or we're going with Lance!"

I do not believe at this point this comment scares Dak's agent, simply because we do not know what Lance is capable of. But it is a little more leverage than not having Lance. Still, he could have said the same thing about Rush. I mean what difference does it make who they replace Dak with at this point. None of their options are credible. And if they have to eat Dak's $62 million CAP number, there is no chance Jerry can sign any higher priced QBs. In terms of leverage, Dak has a pile driver. Jerry has an 8" ball peen.

 

[CowboyStar88]

are they really ready to part ways, he would have to play really well in the pre season, and god forbid dak got hurt, and he continued to play well, it may be hard for dak to get back in

I’d expect Dak to get the same treatment TR got if TL played well. I don’t think he will however play all that well.

 

[Adreme]

Last August, seemingly out of nowhere, Jerry Jones apparently made a fairly big decision without consulting his HC: He traded a 4th round pick to the 49ers in exchange for the niners former first round QB Trey Lance, who the niners had clearly decided was a mistake. Approximately six months and an entire regular season later, a clear purpose for this trade is still somewhat unclear if not strange.

Trey Lance has yet to take a meaningful snap for the Cowboys and was never on the game day roster this past season. Last off-season, the Cowboys had signed backup QB Cooper Rush to a two year, $5,000,000 contract. Rush has one more year on that deal but it does have a fairly painless out if they choose to release him as an upcoming post June 1 cut.

Also in this mix of head scratchers is the fact that Lance goes into 2024 on the last year of his rookie deal before becoming an unrestricted FA.
So here are some of my questions about the Lance move:

• What was the primary purpose for obtaining Trey Lance? (A successor to Dak, leverage against Dak in contract negotiations, future trade bait with other teams?)
• Are the Cowboys following some kind of plan with him…or not?
• How can the Cowboys know what they have in Lance if they hang on to Cooper Rush as the backup?

Here are some possible scenarios/answers to those questions:

• A- Lance was obtained to give the Cowboys leverage and a possible replacement for Dak should the team decide to move on from Dak. (I don’t see how Lance could be much trade bait if he never sees the field here)
• B- The plan is for Dak to be extended one more year, give time to develop Lance, then make him the starter in 2025. ???? If there’s a plan it’s not at all very clear.
• C- The Cowboys somehow already know what they have (or don’t have in Lance) Or…they are going to find out in TC this year?

Honestly I would be fine moving on from Dak via a trade if this team was willing to do a rebuild similar to what the pack did with Jordan Love last year. The problems there would be 1. Jerry won’t do a “rebuild” and 2. We don’t know if Lance is good enough to hand the keys to the car yet.

So what is the plan for Trey Lance? Is this some grand 3 dimensional chess our GM is playing? Or is it a strange fantasy football move centered on throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks? If there is some grand and brilliant plan here, I’m not seeing it.

Thoughts?

Lets be honest: it was a ploy to try and get someone on the roster who one could argue would be able to start and in so doing give Jerry leverage so that maybe all the cards in the negotiations with Dak were not with him. The problem is Dak then went out and made 2nd team all pro and had the best year of his career meaning that now once again the leverage is all his because the Cowboys both need to lower the cap hit and know Dak's value is far higher than the salary number, on the open market, he has so there is no incentive for him to take a paycut. Basically it was a stupid idea to attempt to get leverage that accomplished nothing because no one was going to believe that a QB that has not played more than a single full game in 5 years and only played one full season since High School was going to be able to add leverage to the negotiations.

 

[big dog cowboy]

your favorite qb #4

 

[Denim Chicken]

“Lance is this year’s 4th round pick” is a good way of looking at it Rock.

not really when you dont have the 4th round contract to go with it

 

[jazzcat22]

Ok but if they extend Dak for two more years, what will that mean for Lance? I can’t make it make sense.

Did it make sense to give the current contract to Dak? Many fans may be asking that.

 

[KingintheNorth]

I cant bash Jerry for that. I doubt MM had any issue with it either. Its a nonstory.

Pay no attention to the fac that the Head Fricken Football Coach and supposed offensive guru was not consulted about the Lance trade.

 

[Aven8]

Last August, seemingly out of nowhere, Jerry Jones apparently made a fairly big decision without consulting his HC: He traded a 4th round pick to the 49ers in exchange for the niners former first round QB Trey Lance, who the niners had clearly decided was a mistake. Approximately six months and an entire regular season later, a clear purpose for this trade is still somewhat unclear if not strange.

Trey Lance has yet to take a meaningful snap for the Cowboys and was never on the game day roster this past season. Last off-season, the Cowboys had signed backup QB Cooper Rush to a two year, $5,000,000 contract. Rush has one more year on that deal but it does have a fairly painless out if they choose to release him as an upcoming post June 1 cut.

Also in this mix of head scratchers is the fact that Lance goes into 2024 on the last year of his rookie deal before becoming an unrestricted FA.
So here are some of my questions about the Lance move:

• What was the primary purpose for obtaining Trey Lance? (A successor to Dak, leverage against Dak in contract negotiations, future trade bait with other teams?)
• Are the Cowboys following some kind of plan with him…or not?
• How can the Cowboys know what they have in Lance if they hang on to Cooper Rush as the backup?

Here are some possible scenarios/answers to those questions:

• A- Lance was obtained to give the Cowboys leverage and a possible replacement for Dak should the team decide to move on from Dak. (I don’t see how Lance could be much trade bait if he never sees the field here)
• B- The plan is for Dak to be extended one more year, give time to develop Lance, then make him the starter in 2025. ???? If there’s a plan it’s not at all very clear.
• C- The Cowboys somehow already know what they have (or don’t have in Lance) Or…they are going to find out in TC this year?

Honestly I would be fine moving on from Dak via a trade if this team was willing to do a rebuild similar to what the pack did with Jordan Love last year. The problems there would be 1. Jerry won’t do a “rebuild” and 2. We don’t know if Lance is good enough to hand the keys to the car yet.

So what is the plan for Trey Lance? Is this some grand 3 dimensional chess our GM is playing? Or is it a strange fantasy football move centered on throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks? If there is some grand and brilliant plan here, I’m not seeing it.

Thoughts?

I just did a post in the draft zone about this. The problem is now after our 3rd pick we have to wait 86 picks later to pick at our 5th round comp pick. Also, you are paying Lance as a 1st rounder but you only get him for one year. Unless he starts or we trade him, it was an awful trade. Someone will pick him up in FA for more than we can pay.

I said all year the timing of it was horrible. Why trade for a QB at the end of TC? He had no QB school or PS games under Mike. Wasted year IMO.

 

[KingintheNorth]

“Lance is this year’s 4th round pick” is a good way of looking at it Rock.

a 4th round pick with a two-year, $6,250,717 deal and no realistic chance of proving himself. Throw in a $25M option that you have to pull the trigger on in just over a month.

Teams were offering a 6th for Lance and a 7th. Jerry came in and offered a 4th.

I typically applaud trading for a young player.."Gamble on talent". This was a bad trade. One of many on Jerry's GM resume.

 

[birdwells1]

Jerry wouldn't let the 49ers off the phone, didn't communicate with any coaches, scouts or Will McClay these signal he was trying to formulate leverage against Dak.

 

[fivetwos]

Given there were only two years left on his deal, and the intent has always been about retaining Dak, it’s difficult to make sense of.

Todd France isn’t going to buy Stephen telling him they would ever consider going to Lance if they don’t cooperate.

The only thing I can think of that may have made sense….if this past season went by way of 2020, they could have started Lance instead of Rush and there would be more of a reason to watch, and just maybe he could be flipped for a better draft pick. Reaching, I know.

It was probably more about Jerry playing with his toy. He was beaming that day about doing it all by himself and reminded us of the advantages of things being structured that way. My goodness. May have been nice to consult with the guy you expect to develop him.

Meanwhile, before anyone sweats the loss of a fourth round pick, take a look at the third round results of late. Probably didn’t miss out on much. It could also be recouped by moving down not very far in the first.

 

[vlad]

Last August, seemingly out of nowhere, Jerry Jones apparently made a fairly big decision without consulting his HC: He traded a 4th round pick to the 49ers in exchange for the niners former first round QB Trey Lance, who the niners had clearly decided was a mistake. Approximately six months and an entire regular season later, a clear purpose for this trade is still somewhat unclear if not strange.

Trey Lance has yet to take a meaningful snap for the Cowboys and was never on the game day roster this past season. Last off-season, the Cowboys had signed backup QB Cooper Rush to a two year, $5,000,000 contract. Rush has one more year on that deal but it does have a fairly painless out if they choose to release him as an upcoming post June 1 cut.

Also in this mix of head scratchers is the fact that Lance goes into 2024 on the last year of his rookie deal before becoming an unrestricted FA.
So here are some of my questions about the Lance move:

• What was the primary purpose for obtaining Trey Lance? (A successor to Dak, leverage against Dak in contract negotiations, future trade bait with other teams?)
• Are the Cowboys following some kind of plan with him…or not?
• How can the Cowboys know what they have in Lance if they hang on to Cooper Rush as the backup?

Here are some possible scenarios/answers to those questions:

• A- Lance was obtained to give the Cowboys leverage and a possible replacement for Dak should the team decide to move on from Dak. (I don’t see how Lance could be much trade bait if he never sees the field here)
• B- The plan is for Dak to be extended one more year, give time to develop Lance, then make him the starter in 2025. ???? If there’s a plan it’s not at all very clear.
• C- The Cowboys somehow already know what they have (or don’t have in Lance) Or…they are going to find out in TC this year?

Honestly I would be fine moving on from Dak via a trade if this team was willing to do a rebuild similar to what the pack did with Jordan Love last year. The problems there would be 1. Jerry won’t do a “rebuild” and 2. We don’t know if Lance is good enough to hand the keys to the car yet.

So what is the plan for Trey Lance? Is this some grand 3 dimensional chess our GM is playing? Or is it a strange fantasy football move centered on throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks? If there is some grand and brilliant plan here, I’m not seeing it.

Thoughts?

I assume the plan for Lance was to allow Jerry/Stephen to scratch an itch, and if in some miracle he works out they can claim GM Fred. That's my bet guess.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

The Cowboys had Lance graded as a 2nd round prospect when he came out. They got him for a 4th round pick. He’s a bag of tools that needs some more development. I’ve got zero issues with the trade.

If we drafted him in the 4th round in this year’s draft 90% of the board would be fired up with excitement.

 

[charron]

I believe the Cowboys saw an opportunity to get a QB who was drafted in round 1 for cheap and took it without much thought. Lances contract is up the same time Dak's is. The most that lance can do is beat out rush for the backup spot.

If you are lance would you take a deal similar to rush? No you wouldn't you probably hit free agency in 25 because there is always a team looking for a QB and maybe you don't get 60/year but he might become a higher paid backup, low paying starter for a team in need, who knows.