In a stunning development at the beginning of the offseason, the Dallas Cowboys saw a shift in their quarterback direction.
Trey Lance, once the coveted future backup behind Dak Prescott, is gone—now under contract with the Los Angeles Chargers as of April 4, 2025.
Meanwhile, Joe Milton III, acquired in a trade from New England, is emerging as the quarterback the Cowboys envisioned when they initially pursued Lance.
Trey Lance’s Departure: Expectations Never Met
Once the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Lance had potential but never delivered for Dallas.
Used sparingly, he left Texas after minimal playing time and just one start—Week 18 of the 2024 season—which yielded 244 passing yards in a meaningless loss.
The Cowboys declined his fifth-year option, signaling an end to the experiment.
Lance’s move to the Chargers represents a fresh start, but his inability to break through in Dallas marked a clear shift in the organization’s plans.
Joe Milton: The High-Upside Replacement
Enter Joe Milton III, a sixth-round pick in 2024 drafted by the Patriots. He made a splash in his debut by going 22-of-29 for 241 yards and a touchdown pass, and a rushing touchdown in the Patriots’ final game of 2024.
Soon after, the Cowboys traded for him in April 2025, sending a fifth-round pick to New England.
Compared to Lance’s inconsistent stints. Milton has stood out early. Analysts note his confidence and arm talent, even in offseason programs, saying Milton “does not look like a late-round pick” and seems more poised than Lance ever appeared.
Why Milton Fits Dallas’ Direction
With Cooper Rush also departed, the backup role behind Prescott is vacant.
The Cowboys quickly handed that opportunity to Milton, who is getting the early edge over practice-squad veteran Will Grier.
Milton’s size (6’5”, 246 lbs) and cannon arm fit well into an offense, shifting back toward vertical concepts and play-action under coordinator-turned-head-coach Brian Schottenheimer.
Milton’s Week 18 performance and high completion percentage (75.9%) show a level of accuracy and poise that eluded Lance in Dallas.
The mobility brought to the field by Milton could also allow the Cowboys to deploy plays such as the wildcat and other plays to get Milton into open space.
The Story is Clear
With Lance now in Los Angeles and Milton rising fast in Dallas, the story is clear: Joe Milton is becoming the developmental quarterback the Cowboys hoped Trey Lance would become.
That trajectory matters—not just for the depth behind Dak Prescott, but for the future of the position in Dallas.
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s let me start by saying I never seen Joe Milton play in college so I have no information on Joe Milton I would need to see Joe Milton play in a game as for Trey Lance he was garbage the best thing for Trey Lance is to go play up in the Canadian football League or the U.F.L.
Milton is a developmental QB. Watch his practice and he has issues with accuracy. he is a 3rd QB at this time who hopefully never gets a serious down . Maybe next year he will be ready to be the #2. He will be almost 30 when Dak’s new contract expires and Dak likely plays till 38 or so –hopefully.
Milton is better than being the 3rd QB!! And he don’t have issues with accuracy, he is actually pretty accurate for being as new to the NFL as he is!! And all you have to do is go watch the game he played last year in week 18!! If he sees a open receiver, he’s gonna hit them!! His problem is that he can’t get through his reads fast enough before trying to throw the ball into coverage, which leads to interceptions sometimes!! And that can be fixed pretty easily with a good QB coach and practice!! He just has to learn to look for all of his receivers before throwing the ball and not throw the ball into coverage and throw it away or run with it if his receivers aren’t open!! And like I said, that’s easy to learn!! I think he earns the backup job for this season and he’ll be better than Cooper Rush if he gets the opportunity to play!! Which being better than Rush isn’t really hard to do, but we’ll still be better off with Milton than Rush!!
And the best part about us getting Milton is that we don’t have to worry about trying to re-sign him after this year!! He just finished his rookie year last year, so we have 3 more years with him before we have to worry about trying to re-sign him!! And I think he’ll eventually be good enough to be a starter in the NFL!! But right now, he’s a good backup option!! And I think I’ll feel better about him playing for us than Cooper Rush!! I think Rush was way overrated!! And he supposedly had this winning record, but for 1, wins and losses are the results of the whole team, not just the QB!! And 2, our defense is the reason Cooper was involved in that many wins!! Rush couldn’t get the offense to score more than 20 points a game every time he played, so we were lucky the defense held teams to under 20 points, or we wouldn’t have won any of those games!! But even though Milton has only one start to his name, I still feel better with him being the starter for us than Rush because he’s more athletic…. He can run with the ball if he needs to, and his arm strength is way better than Rush too, which means we should be able to move the ball down the field better than what Rush could, and that should lead to more points than what Rush was able to produce with the offense!! And I didn’t even mention Lance because he wasn’t even good enough to beat out Cooper Rush, that’s why I compared Milton to Rush instead!! But all of this is just my opinion!!