CFZ The murky thinking behind the Trey Lance trade

[Coogiguy03]

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.

very good point, i'm doing the mock draft and it makes me mad every time I see that we have to wait so long to draft, we need to trade back or something to get a 4th rounder this year

 

[Coogiguy03]

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.

I can name someone else with these same issues

 

[Coogiguy03]

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.

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.

he shouldn't be allowed to make trades any more

 

[Jimbo123]

The Cowboys had no idea what they were getting in Lance, but the 49ers did.

 

[DasTex]

He's a lotto ticket with an expiration date of 2025 that cost a 4th round pick

 

[Coogiguy03]

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.

loool

 

[Brax]

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?

There is no answer when one understands that the rest of the league is playing chess while Jerry is still trying to learn checkers.

 

[Jfconrow]

I wonder what Lance is going to do. If he never plays and the Cowboys let him go he probably won't get much more then backup money....I don't know what that looks like maybe 3 years $6M. Then he'll likely be on to his 3rd team. It looks like his best option is to go somewhere with a bad QB situation and try to beat someone out. Or he could go to a good team and hope for an injury. Maybe at this point he's happy with his rookie money and will play the backup card as long as he can. Hopefully he's been learning how to play and with another 3 year contract you hope he can pull a Gino Smith comeback, but without playing time I don't know if that is realistic.

I thought he was more of a scrambling run and gun type QB, but with his injury maybe he has to learn to be a pocket QB now.

 

[Chasing6]

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?

No body sees it. Jeruh gambled digging for gold.

It was a move to honor his friend and mentor Al Davis.

 

[MarkP88]

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?

Great post. It was at best the spaghetti option. Totally ill-conceived, seat-of-the-pants move by Jerry. Maybe if he was under contract beyond next year, it'd have been worth it. So after extending Dak this year, are we going to extend Lance next year? Based on what? With so many other holes? And don't give me "we got a first-round talent for a fourth-round pick." No, we didn't. SF waaaaay overdrafted him; even Jerry said the Cowboys had a second round grade on him.

Ask yourself this - would you rather have that fourth rounder this year, or Lance? Is there anyone who'd honestly say the latter?

 

[MikeT22]

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.

2nd round prospect BEFORE he spent two years in SF and showed that he can’t read a defense or mentally process things quick enough.

He was so bad SF dumped him for peanuts despite giving up a fortune to initially get him. The best they could get from any of the other 30 teams was a 6th and 7th, until Jerry called and wouldn’t hang up until they took his 4th.

 

[DFWJC]

I simply think he saw a chance to get a first-round talent for a relatively low cost. There is no grand and brilliant plan other than that and the options it creates.

1) If we re-sign Dak and he plays poorly while Lance has a great preseason, we could have Lance take over. (I consider this to be an unlikely scenario because Dak has generally put up good numbers during the regular season.)

2) If we re-sign Dak and he plays up to his regular level while Lance has a great preseason, we could trade Lance and make a profit on the acquisition.

3) If Lance plays well, we could keep him as a better backup option for the season in case of injury (and even possibly sign him longer term for that role, which I also consider unlikely if he plays well enough for some team in need of a QB to sign him).

You seem to be viewing this as if it is relative to Dak in some way. I don't think it is. The front office has been saying this whole time that it plans to extend Dak. I think Jones just saw it as a chance to get a first-rounder to possibly improve our depth or create value and see how it goes from there.

Just because someone got drafted in the first round does not mean they should have been.
So far, Lance has looked like a 4th rounder….at best

Maybe the light will come on

 

[KJJ]

Lance was a safety net in the event Dak continued to regress and the Cowboys decided to move on. That’s what I believe because no one trades a 4th round pick for a QB simply to be a backup. The Cowboys may now regret the trade after watching Dak rebound from his INT plagued 2022 season with an MVP caliber season. Lance isn’t going to improve standing on the sidelines and the Cowboys will have to figure out something with his contract. If Lance doesn’t beat out Cooper Rush this summer he’ll end up being a wasted 4th round pick.

 

[DCreppinBoysfan]

Jerruh saw dollar signs. He’s knows America love qb controversy from Americas Team.

Jerruh doesn’t make trades to generate winning, he makes trades to generate talk.

 

[Bobhaze]

Great post. It was at best the spaghetti option. Totally ill-conceived, seat-of-the-pants move by Jerry. Maybe if he was under contract beyond next year, it'd have been worth it. So after extending Dak this year, are we going to extend Lance next year? Based on what? With so many other holes? And don't give me "we got a first-round talent for a fourth-round pick." No, we didn't. SF waaaaay overdrafted him; even Jerry said the Cowboys had a second round grade on him.

Ask yourself this - would you rather have that fourth rounder this year, or Lance? Is there anyone who'd honestly say the latter?

Great question.

 

[blueblood70]

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

What’s the difence guys like room, love tigers etc etc sit I mean garollpo and brisket defatted and sat. It’s he same thinG.

At last we didn’t give 3 1sta for Him…or pick many and so many 1st round busts in qbs,,,, Lance is simply a attempt at finding backup and possibly future starter who knows 4th isn’t bad when they pick a guy like make white what in the 5th??

simple answer BOB , no conspiracy simply grabbing a player maybe you can develop..

 

[noshame]

If I were a betting man I would bet we're going to see quite a bit of Lance in camps and pre season.
Lance has got to be in the right system, and hopefully we'll use him that way.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

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?

is he unrestricted FA? I thought he has a 5th year option which we can decide to pick up or decline. so we have 2025. with that said, that costs around 25M. so there is that.

not sure Lance gives us leverage. Dak's camp know that. if the Jones boys try that, they will get called on their bluff. so not sure where that's going to go.

with that said, not sure if Jerry just got excited at the table and just upped the ante so he could win the bidding war, without thinking it through. he had Dak, was he/is he going to walk away? if we would have won, would he walk away from a winning QB. we didn't, but feels we are close with his "all in comments", then what? he gave Rush a 5M contract. is he going to walk away and just trust Lance to be the backup? he has until August to decide.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

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?

There’s no plan for Lance. He’s shown can’t do lay in this league. This is just the Cowboys doing what they did with Drew Henson and guys like that. Buying low and praying. More than likely he’s Daks backup at best.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

If I were a betting man I would bet we're going to see quite a bit of Lance in camps and pre season.
Lance has got to be in the right system, and hopefully we'll use him that way.

What’s the right system if the 49ers system he couldn’t grasp?