Cowboys to unsurprisingly decline fifth-year option on Trey Lance

Plans for Lance remain unclear for the Cowboys, who are effectively renting the one-year North Dakota State standout as a project on a depth chart headlined by Dak Prescott but still including Cooper Rush. The latter’s contract calls for a $2.25M base salary. Lance is due a $1.1M base salary, but the Cowboys picked up a guaranteed roster bonus worth $4.25M in March.

As it stands, Lance is on track to become one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history. After turning to Lance as their Week 1 starter in 2022, the 49ers reversed course following an ankle injury that required two surgeries. Lance could not beat out Sam Darnold for San Francisco’s backup job last year, and the team kept Brandon Allen as its third-stringer. 

While Brock Purdy has bailed out the 49ers, they sacrificed two future first-round picks and a third to move up — from No. 12 to No. 3 — for Lance three years ago. Purdy has allowed San Francisco to move on rather cleanly, but Lance’s future is cloudy.

This year will be a bit different for Lance, as he will go into the preseason with the Cowboys. He arrived in Dallas after the 2023 preseason slate wrapped, but he and Rush stand to see extensive time during the Cowboys’ August tilts. The Cowboys have liked what they have seen from Lance in practice, per Archer, and will be ready to give him plenty of run in the preseason. That said, Lance was inactive for every Cowboys game last season.

Next year’s free agency may well feature four of the five first-round QBs from the 2021 draft. The COVID-19-marred period undoubtedly affected teams’ evaluations, but that first round featured three passers that have not worked out (Lance, Zach Wilson, Mac Jones) and another (Justin Fields) traded due to the Bears having access to a better option (Caleb Williams). 

Lance’s marks the last of this batch of declined options, with the Broncos, Jaguars and Steelers each declining on greenlighting guaranteed money for their low-cost reclamation projects. Only one of the five 2021 first-round QBs — Trevor Lawrence — saw his option exercised.

A dual-threat sensation for North Dakota State in 2019, Lance was denied a chance to build on that success due to the pandemic prompting Division I-FCS to nix its fall seasons. Lance declared for the 2021 draft and did well to score a $34M guarantee from the 49ers. 

Unable to threaten Jimmy Garoppolo‘s job security as a rookie, Lance completed 15 of 31 passes in 2022. He has thrown just 102 NFL passes and still has fewer than 500 attempts since high school. This preseason will at least provide Lance the chance to display progress.

While Prescott’s contract-year status could conceivably impact Lance, the latter has now shown much to indicate he will be worthy of longer-term consideration. It will be interesting to see if that changes in the coming months.