The quarterback position is the most important in the NFL. We look around the league and we can see the haves and have-nots.
Successful teams have quarterbacks who are at or near the top of the quarterback rankings in the league.
The Cowboys are no different, having Dak Prescott as quarterback he has brought the team back to the upper echelons of the NFL. However, Dak is in a contract year without a new deal in sight.
Having a franchise-type quarterback in the final year of his deal without an extension in place or being worked on is crazy.
Is there a method to this madness?
Could the Cowboys front office see something in a third-string quarterback with a first-round pedigree? The answer is none other than Trey Lance.
How did Trey Lance become a Cowboy?
Trey Lance was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers traded up to get their, supposed, quarterback of the future.
In the trade, the 49ers sent three 1st round picks and one 3rd-round pick to move up from the 12th overall pick to the 3rd spot in the draft.
Less than three years later the 49ers traded the young quarterback to the Dallas Cowboys for a 4th round pick.
A big “L” for the 49ers, but a possible win for the Cowboys.
Who is Trey Lance?
Trey Lance is a 24-year-old third-string quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. He has sat behind two veteran quarterbacks, Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush for one season.
Trey did not have the luxury of going through OTA’s with Dallas last year which demolished his chances of moving up the depth chart.
A quarterback with a top-three pick pedigree, who only threw 1 interception in college, who has the athletic ability and arm strength to make any play is sitting and learning behind two grizzled veterans.
So, who is Trey Lance?
In my opinion, he is a Pro Bowl quarterback who has not gotten the chance to prove his worth.
In San Francisco, he was drafted in 2021 and played in 6 games, starting in 2 before injury.
In 2022 he got two starts under his belt and fractured his ankle and Mr. Irrelevant took over and never looked back.
Trey has had bad luck, but the talent is there waiting to be unleashed.
The stats
Above you see the statistics for Trey Lance over two seasons and about 8 games played over those seasons.
Let’s play a game and see what those stats could look like over an entire season.
We will use his rookie season stats and expand those numbers because he only started 2 games.
I used Dak Prescott’s pass completion numbers for his 4th year in the NFL which was 388.
That averages out to about 24 completions a game that year.
I used 24 completions as the base for Trey in this offense.
The 24 completions a game with his rookie year average yards per pass of 8.6 over 16 games is about 3,300 yards.
If I had used the yards after catch average Trey would be around 6,000 yards passing for a season.
I know that’s crazy, but it shows the potential possibilities of Trey Lance in this offense.
The Cowboys’ next move at QB
The Dallas Cowboys front office holds all the cards on the Dak Prescott extension. They can choose to sign him to a multi-year deal or let it ride with Trey Lance.
Trey has been getting amazing reviews from head coach Mike McCarthy.
Coach McCarthy has used the words “master of the system” when talking about Trey.
This is a good sign.
If Trey Lance regains the confidence he showed in college, the NFL could be about to see the next quarterback make his rise.
We got to see what Jordan Love could do with control of an offense, but could Trey Lance have the same type of success?
Or could this hype around Trey Lance be the front office doing their best to set the trade bar high?
If Trey has a good preseason, the Cowboys could turn a 4th-round pick used to get Trey into more picks or a higher pick in a trade with a quarterback-needy team.
They could also see enough to trade Cooper Rush and move Trey up a spot on the depth chart.
If this happens the writing could be on the wall for Dak Prescott.
Keeping Dak as the face of the Dallas Cowboys is the ideal situation in the end and he still garners the talent of a top 5 quarterback in this league, but Trey taking control of the offense would be a sight to see.
The ball is in the hands of Jerry Jones with Dak and Trey. Let’s sit back and see if Jerry takes it to the house or fumbles at the goal line.