CFZ The murky thinking behind the Trey Lance trade

[thunderpimp91]

Why is it hard to understand?

How many starting QB's in the NFL did not get a scholarship in college?

If he is such a gifted athlete, how come he did not play much at any level?

Then all of a sudden he is a NFL starting QB???

No I agree with you. Buffalo should probably cut Josh Allen since he didn't get a scholarship coming out of high school either.

There is absolutely no way a guy like Lance who lacks reps in his career could get better at 23 years old. The guy has peaked and NFL coaching is the worst thing for him. He should ask the Cowboys for his release so he can go make $40k in the USFL.

 

[Chasing6]

No I agree with you. Buffalo should probably cut Josh Allen since he didn't get a scholarship coming out of high school either.

There is absolutely no way a guy like Lance who lacks reps in his career could get better at 23 years old. The guy has peaked and NFL coaching is the worst thing for him. He should ask the Cowboys for his release so he can go make $40k in the USFL.

So Allen got drafted out from Junior College?

Trance could absolutely get better. In fact he can only get better, but sitting a watching is not going to help him. He needs to play.

 

[eromeopolk]

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?

God bless you...try to understand the mind of Jerry Dumbo GM Jones. It does not matter. It will not work.

 

[SultanOfSix]

Chasing6 is a little too obsessed with Trey. Every other post in this thread is basically him putting him down. This is weird since he thinks he sucks and will not work out, so showing such an obsession about someone like this makes no sense.

 

[Chasing6]

Chasing6 is a little too obsessed with Trey. Every other post in this thread is basically him putting him down. This is weird since he thinks he sucks and will not work out, so showing such an obsession about someone like this makes no sense.

Never said he sucks. I have said it multiple times he has not played and needs to play. He has little to no experience of playing QB at any level. It is very difficult to make up for lost time.

I am sure he is a great athlete. I am sure he is willing to work hard, but sitting and watching is not goin got help him. Being the scout team QB is only going to help so much. Being 3rd inline for reps either starters is not going to get it done.

Jeruh had no plan for him. Jeruh just winged it like he usually does. In my opinion it was a disservice to him to add him to our roster.

 

[Chasing6]

Chasing6 is a little too obsessed with Trey. Every other post in this thread is basically him putting him down. This is weird since he thinks he sucks and will not work out, so showing such an obsession about someone like this makes no sense.

Never said he sucks. I have said it multiple times he has not played and needs to play. He has little to no experience of playing QB at any level. It is very difficult to make up for lost time.

I am sure he is a great athlete. I am sure he is willing to work hard, but sitting and watching is not goin got help him. Being the scout team QB is only going to help so much. Being 3rd inline for reps either starters is not going to get it done.

Jeruh had no plan for him. Jeruh just winged it like he usually does. In my opinion it was a disservice to him to add him to our roster.

What does suck is our fans who think he is an adequate replacement for Dak.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

That isn't the goal. It drives ratings, sells merch and fills seats. And if your lucky, a ball cap for winning the division.

Winning games in the playoffs is what matters. You know, when Dak has set the NFL record for the worst playoff record.

I get that. And this is what makes him such a unique case. Because the Cowboys can easily use this as the reasoning to move on from Dak; and the odds are they will end up with a quarterback that can't even get them enough wins to even get to the playoffs.

With Jerry Jones' age, I don't think they want to get into that 1999-2006 cycle where they are constantly fishing for a quarterback. Had they not lucked into Romo and Dak who knows? They could have been just like the Commanders and Browns of the same era.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Why would Dak sign a contract where he could be let go in 2025? He would be better off playing out this year and being free agent next year.

He will be extended. Most likely a 4 year deal. He has all the control and his agent knows it.

What I mean is, sign Dak to a deal that makes it easier to let him go in the future, if the situation calls for it. At his current cost the Cowboys are left with no choice. There will always be dead money, but there are ways to limit the damage with a new deal.

Right now, Dak is too cost-prohibitive no matter if Dallas keeps him in 2024 with no restructure or gets rid of him.

The only way out of a crippling cap hit is to extend Dak. My point is, with this extension the Cowboys need to protect themselves better long term.

 

[Chasing6]

What I mean is, sign Dak to a deal that makes it easier to let him go in the future, if the situation calls for it. At his current cost the Cowboys are left with no choice. There will always be dead money, but there are ways to limit the damage with a new deal.

Right now, Dak is too cost-prohibitive no matter if Dallas keeps him in 2024 with no restructure or gets rid of him.

The only way out of a crippling cap hit is to extend Dak. My point is, with this extension the Cowboys need to protect themselves better long term.

They need to extend him without a no trade clause. That alone will make it potentially trade-able. As long as it is reasonable and not astronomically back loaded. But you already know Jeruh will back load the hell out of it making it untrade-able.

 

[BlueStar22]

I had no idea how inexperienced Trey Lance was at simply playing football, let alone playing the most difficult position in the game. That could never amount to anything. If you're not familiar, go check out his background.

 

[DanA]

Lance in theory reduces Dak’s leverage, gives a contingency option to consider, and he can operate as a back up to Dak in 2025.

The best case scenario is he balls out in preseason, Dak plays hardball and we transition to Lance.

The second best outcome is Lance balls out in pre-season and Dak panics taking a better deal for Dallas and we trade Lance for a high pick.

 

[Toro9]

I'm still flabbergasted. Rush is a pretty good backup (5-1 as a starter) and there are no signs the Cowboys will part ways with Dak. A 4th round pick seemingly wasted.

 

[KingCorcoran]

Lance in theory reduces Dak’s leverage, gives a contingency option to consider, and he can operate as a back up to Dak in 2025.

The best case scenario is he balls out in preseason, Dak plays hardball and we transition to Lance.

The second best outcome is Lance balls out in pre-season and Dak panics taking a better deal for Dallas and we trade Lance for a high pick.

The best scenario for Dak is to be cut as soon as possible, become a free agent, and sign with the team that gives him the best offer without them having to compensate the Cowboys. Dak is Lance’s biggest fan. What is going to happen is Jerry Jones will make an offer to Dak Prescott that his agent agrees is as much or more than he could reasonably expect elsewhere and Trey Lance will never take a snap in a regular season or playoff game for the Cowboys in his lifetime.

 

[Chasing6]

Lance in theory reduces Dak’s leverage, gives a contingency option to consider, and he can operate as a back up to Dak in 2025.

The best case scenario is he balls out in preseason, Dak plays hardball and we transition to Lance.

The second best outcome is Lance balls out in pre-season and Dak panics taking a better deal for Dallas and we trade Lance for a high pick.

First of all it is hard to ball out in preseason. Most teams don't even play starters any more, run a very vanilla defense and so one.

Will Grier balled out last year. How is he doing right now?

Secondly, what does Dak have to panic about? He will make $58M this year and most likely would make even more if he hits the open market.

 

[big dog cowboy]

No one from the Cowboys staff is talking about Trance. No one from the media is talking about Trance.

Why would they at the end of February?

 

[big dog cowboy]

With Jerry Jones' age, I don't think they want to get into that 1999-2006 cycle where they are constantly fishing for a quarterback.

How many high draft picks were spent on "fishing" for a QB during those years? Exactly 1. And it wasn't a 1st rounder.

That is a very very weak effort. Spin the clock forward a few years and still no draft capital spent on the most important position in football.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Plus he broke his leg and hand in SFran.

He’s a phenom at QB.

I understand some fans don’t want to let Dak go.

But it’s time. Dak didn’t work out.

Dak didnt work out?

I dont think Jerry got the memo, he is fixing to give Dak $60 mill a season.

And no, I am not in favor of this, but I am also a realist that can read the writing on the wall....................Dak is going to get a new extension, not a matter of if, just how much.

My only hope is that Dak realizes that he gets that deer in the headlights look come playoff time and gives us a hometown discount so we can get some better surrounding talent for him.

 

[Beast_from_East]

The base is guaranteed as well? Still, if we offered him more than what he is guaranteed now, we would be able to rework it. I think we still could get the hit this year down to around $3 million. The incentive is certainly there for us with him on the high-end of backup pay.

As the 3rd overall pick, his entire $34 million dollar contract is guaranteed.

Also, you cant renegotiate a rookie contract, only vet contracts can be reworked.

The only thing you can do is give Lance a new extension that would kick in after his rookie contract expires.

The benefits of being a top 5 pick in the NFL draft.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Several untruths are being stated as facts here. The first is the use of the word "murky". It's all a matter of perspective. Your perspective may be "murky" but that doesn't mean the powers that made that trade have a murky perspective. But you seem to assume their perspective is as "murky" as yours when they may have a clear vision for this young man.

Trey Lance is a part of the Cowboys practice squad. As such, he is assigned to assist in preparing the team for their next opponent. You must think this assignment is meaningless to say a thing like, "Trey Lance has yet to take a meaningful snap for the Cowboys". But your thinking is wrong. The practice squad serves a valuable purpose in the preparedness of this team.

This trade had nothing to do with Dak and as much was stated to the public when the trade was done. So why the questions? Do you not listen? You make so many assumptions that you just end up confusing yourself. The player was not added to this roster to be Dak's backup. He's not a replacement for Cooper Rush either. The plan all along was to add him to the practice squad and have him assist in that function.

It's as simple as that.

So, the Cowboys traded a 4th round pick for a scout team QB that makes on average $8.5 million a season on his rookie contract that is 100% guaranteed???

If this is true, this has to be one of the dumbest trades of all time. You blow a 4th rounder for a QB on a multi-million dollar guaranteed contract to do nothing but run your scout team???

That is like blowing 100K for a Lambo to drive back and forth to the grocery store. There is a hell of a lot better and cheaper options for transportation if all need is a ride to go get some milk.

 

[Beast_from_East]

The Cowboys cannot trade or tag Dak Prescott.

And Dak and his agent are not stupid, they are not signing a 1 year extension.

So, they cant trade Dak, cant tag Dak, and Dak will not sign anything other than a long term extension.

If worst come to worst, Dak knows he can hit the open market as an UFA next year and he knows if the rapist QB up in Cleveland can get $200 mill+, so can he.

Dak has all the leverage, Jerry caved and gave Dak and his agent everything they wanted in the last negotiation and now its coming back to bite them in the arse.