CFZ The murky thinking behind the Trey Lance trade

[Blackspider214]

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.

Lance was in the perfect situation in SF and looked terrible. This is a franchise who gave the resources of personnel and the system in place to take Jimmy G and Purdy to the Super Bowl. If he couldn't succeed there, I have serious doubts he can succeed here. SF's coaching and system is light years ahead of ours.

 

[Chasing6]

So Lance...who no team had any interest in trading for, until Dallas was the top bidder with a 4th round pick....who then sat on the bench all year...you're now hoping we get a 1st or 2nd rounder for?

Hmmmm...cool.

Why not hold out for TWO first round picks?

Seems like teams will be lining up for him.

Can you imagine what Jeruh would have traded for Trance if he was not just competing with himself?

 

[thunderpimp91]

I'm a fan of the Lance trade because it offers upside at the QB position, but also because of how the Cowboys tend to approach the offseason. They are rarely players in free agency and look to maximize their comp picks. After this year plays out there is a really good chance that a team gambles on Trey Lance to a Jordan Love type of shorter term $15M type of deal. If that happens there is a decent chance that 4th round pick comes back to Jerry.

 

[Blackspider214]

All those calling for Lance, can't name 1 thing he does well.

He doesn't do anything well. Hence why SF was desperate to dump him, even after drafting him where they did and used a lot of resources to trade up. Teams usually don't give up on those assets that quickly. They got pennies on the dollar for him but washed their hands of him and moved forward with Purdy. This move was nothing more than Jerry being Jerry and wanting to stay in the news. The move made no sense back then and makes even less sense seeing as he has no future here.

 

[Mikexike]

Lance was in the perfect situation in SF and looked terrible. This is a franchise who gave the resources of personnel and the system in place to take Jimmy G and Purdy to the Super Bowl. If he couldn't succeed there, I have serious doubts he can succeed here. SF's coaching and system is light years ahead of ours.

I don't think he was given much of a chance due to injuries....

 

[john van brocklin]

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 have not understood any possible plan with Lance either.
Do we trust that Jerry has some kind of secret master plan based on his past performance as GM ?
I am not encouraged....

 

[Chasing6]

I'm a fan of the Lance trade because it offers upside at the QB position, but also because of how the Cowboys tend to approach the offseason. They are rarely players in free agency and look to maximize their comp picks. After this year plays out there is a really good chance that a team gambles on Trey Lance to a Jordan Love type of shorter term $15M type of deal. If that happens there is a decent chance that 4th round pick comes back to Jerry.

I am not seeing the upside. I only see the downside. We offered a 4th. No one else offered more than a 7th conditional pick. That looks like down to me.

Compare Trance stats in college to Rush. Compare Trance contract to Rush. Compare Trance NFL experience to Rush. All of it is down.

 

[Chasing6]

He doesn't do anything well. Hence why SF was desperate to dump him, even after drafting him where they did and used a lot of resources to trade up. Teams usually don't give up on those assets that quickly. They got pennies on the dollar for him but washed their hands of him and moved forward with Purdy. This move was nothing more than Jerry being Jerry and wanting to stay in the news. The move made no sense back then and makes even less sense seeing as he has no future here.

They were desperate to safe the $5M we are wasting this year. The 4th was just a cherry on top for the Niners.

 

[thunderpimp91]

I am not seeing the upside. I only see the downside. We offered a 4th. No one else offered more than a 7th conditional pick. That looks like down to me.

Compare Trance stats in college to Rush. Compare Trance contract to Rush. Compare Trance NFL experience to Rush. All of it is down.

Is there any actual confirmation that no other team offered more than a 7th round conditional pick or are we just creating a narrative to fit an agenda here?

As far as the comparisons to Rush I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at? Lance played less than 20 games in school. Lance threw 1 INT his entire career. Trey Lance is still only 23 years old and wouldn't even be the oldest QB if he were draft eligible this year. Cooper Rush wasnt even drafted until he was 24 and was struggling to stay on a practice squad until he finally got a chance at 28 years old.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Teammates, Dak should encourage and teach his teammate just in case he goes down for a time. He does it for others on the team.

so you complain about Dak not being good. then you want him to teach!.....why? what is he going to teach if you don't think he is any good?
sounds like you just want to complain about Dak. because the above two are conflicting.

btw, shouldn't it be Coaches job to teach? facilities are available to players, year round.

I think what you are confused about is bonding. is Dak bonding with Lance......team bonding is important.

 

[Mikexike]

Is there any actual confirmation that no other team offered more than a 7th round conditional pick or are we just creating a narrative to fit an agenda here?

As far as the comparisons to Rush I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at? Lance played less that 20 games in school. Lance threw 1 INT his entire career. Trey Lance is still only 23 years old and wouldn't even be the oldest QB if he were draft eligible this year. Cooper Rush wasnt even drafted until he was 24 and was struggling to stay on a practice squad until he finally got a chance at 28 years old.

I find it very odd that there is so much hate for lance.

 

[Chasing6]

Is there any actual confirmation that no other team offered more than a 7th round conditional pick or are we just creating a narrative to fit an agenda here?

As far as the comparisons to Rush I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at? Lance played less than 20 games in school. Lance threw 1 INT his entire career. Trey Lance is still only 23 years old and wouldn't even be the oldest QB if he were draft eligible this year. Cooper Rush wasnt even drafted until he was 24 and was struggling to stay on a practice squad until he finally got a chance at 28 years old.

The Niners have stated that.

 

[thunderpimp91]

I find it very odd that there is so much hate for lance.

Same. There is a very real chance he does end up completely flaming out in the NFL, but to just count out a 23 year old former 3rd overall pick still on his rookie contract and has thrown only about 100 passes just seems ignorant to me.

 

[thunderpimp91]

The Niners have stated that.

I'd love to see a link. I would seriously love to see the evidence that no other team offered anything other than a conditional 7th round pick so that I can bash Jerry Jones relentlessly. I remain extremely skeptical that it exists, but I would love nothing more than for this to be true.

 

[Chasing6]

Is there any actual confirmation that no other team offered more than a 7th round conditional pick or are we just creating a narrative to fit an agenda here?

As far as the comparisons to Rush I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at? Lance played less than 20 games in school. Lance threw 1 INT his entire career. Trey Lance is still only 23 years old and wouldn't even be the oldest QB if he were draft eligible this year. Cooper Rush wasnt even drafted until he was 24 and was struggling to stay on a practice squad until he finally got a chance at 28 years old.

Age and draft position are irrelevant at this point.

You need to do some research on Trance. He struggled to win the starting job in HS. He did not get a scholarship to play QB. Schools that expressed interest wanted him to play defense.

He played 1 year in college and has basically sat for the the last 4 years and you think he is ready to be a starting NFL QB, never mind in Dallas?

 

[Rayman70]

He as worth a low risk. We took that gamble. If it pans out, great. If not, its nothing to make a fuss over. At least we seem to be throwing some darts at the QB position. Its refreshing. We usually sit on our hands until our starter is wore out. I can't fault Jerry on this move. Its a bit proactive.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Age and draft position are irrelevant at this point.

You need to do some research on Trance. He struggled to win the starting job in HS. He did not get a scholarship to play QB. Schools that expressed interest wanted him to play defense.

He played 1 year in college and has basically sat for the the last 4 years and you think he is ready to be a starting NFL QB, never mind in Dallas?

Age and draft position are irrelevant at this point, but we can go even further in his past to bash the kid? Josh Allen didn't get any scholarships offers either. Is he automatically a terrible player? Baker Mayfield was a walk on in college....hes about to be among the top paid QBs in all of football. Jordan Love stat for 3 years before getting his chance to start at 25 years old. Does that make him a scrub?

You strictly hate the guy because you want to. This is one of the weakest arguments I've ever heard to write a player off, and completely undermines the idea that players, especially young players can work hard on their games and improve. The fact that Lance was not viewed as a true QB prospect coming out of high school yet busted his *** to be the starting QB at NDSU in year 2 and did well enough for SF to trade away a massive haul to move up to the #3 overall pick and take the kid is telling about the kids work ethic.

 

[OmerV]

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 believe people tend to overthink the reason for trading for Lance. They want immediate results, guarantees and/or a clear understanding of how things will go, but the reality is Lance is a developmental guy that the team believes has more upside potential than most developmental guys. Obviously that remains to be seen.

Here's what I think.

1. He was never intended to play this year as long as Dak & Cooper were healthy. That should have been obvious all along.
2. He was viewed as a shot on a getting a 1st to 2nd round talent with a 4th round draft pick.
3. The Cowboys realize and accept that his future isn't clearly defined, just as it wasn't when the Cowboys used a 4th round pick on Dak.
4. There are hopes, but nothing acquired in the 4th round (or for a 4th round pick) is guaranteed.
5. The hope team obviously has hopes that he will develop into a top level QB, or at a minimum will either become a top level #2 or show enough in preseason or filling in if Dak is injured to be a good trade piece.

 

[Chasing6]

He as worth a low risk. We took that gamble. If it pans out, great. If not, its nothing to make a fuss over. At least we seem to be throwing some darts at the QB position. Its refreshing. We usually sit on our hands until our starter is wore out. I can't fault Jerry on this move. Its a bit proactive.

To me it was a high risks. He was drafted with a low floor, high ceiling. Dumbest trade in the history of the NFL.

For a team with not a lot of draft picks and cap challenges is was a high risk on a player that has proven nothing at any level he has played in - HS, College or the NFL. He must have been one helluva a flag football player.

 

[ghst187]

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

Yeah “murky” thinking is a nice way of putting it.
Lance will soon be due for a big contract while still not showing any signs of ability. We already had a decent backup….And we gave up a draft pick. This ONLY makes any sense if we cut Dak this offseason and expect Lance to become the starter. If we extend Dak, Lance will go find another team and we will just be left without a fourth round pick while not getting a meaningful snap from Lance. Thought it was a horrible move when we did it and doesn’t look any better right now, same as drafting Mazi.