Cowboys Trade Rumors: Trey Lance Dealt to Dallas; 49ers Get 4th-Round Pick for QB

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The Trey Lance era in San Francisco is over. It barely began.

The third-year quarterback was traded to the Dallas Cowboys on Friday in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Lance, 23, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft after the 49ers traded a mountain of picks to move up and select him. He largely spent his rookie year serving as Jimmy Garappolo’s backup, however, making just two starts.

But the Niners committed to Lance as the starter heading into the 2022 season, and he started the team’s first two games before a broken fibula cut his sophomore campaign short.

In eight career games (four starts) he’s thrown for 797 yards, five scores and three interceptions, completing 54.9 percent of his passes. He added 235 rushing yards and a score.

But the Niners found themselves in an interesting position after Brock Purdy stepped into the starting role late in the 2022 season following injuries to Lance and Garappolo. He played so well the Niners went 5-0 to finish the regular season and reached the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Suddenly, a quarterback controversy had emerged between the player the team had drafted to be a franchise quarterback, Lance, and a 2022 seventh-rounder in Purdy who had thrived in the role.

It was unclear if the Niners would let the two battle it out in a quarterback competition over the summer or look to deal one of the players in a trade, though there were indications the team saw Purdy as its long-term franchise quarterback.

“I think Brock has earned the right with the way he played that he’s probably the leader in the clubhouse at that,” general manager John Lynch told reporters in late March. “I’ll let [head coach Kyle Shanahan] make those kinds of decisions but I know when we talk, Brock has probably earned that right to be the guy. If we were to line up, he’d probably take that first snap.”

That felt like an early indication that the writing was on the wall for Lance in San Francisco. It became apparent he wasn’t going to be in the team’s plans earlier this week when Shanahan named Sam Darnold, who signed a one-year deal in free agency, the No. 2 quarterback going into the regular season.

With Dallas, Lance will now have the chance to prove San Francisco wrong and show he has the talent and upside that made him worth the No. 3 selection two years ago. As for the Niners, it appears they have placed all of their eggs in the Purdy basket.

The Cowboys are obviously set at quarterback right now, but this does open up a lot of potential discussions for them involving Dak Prescott. He’s signed through the 2024 season and there’s been talk about an extension, but nothing has happened at this point.

There’s also been a lot of pressure put on Prescott going into this season after he tied for the NFL lead with 15 interceptions last season and threw two more in the Cowboys’ 19-12 divisional round loss to the 49ers in January.

If those issues persist again in 2023 and the Cowboys either miss the playoffs or have an early postseason exit, the team may look to explore different options at quarterback in the future.

Given the low cost Dallas is paying to get a still-young quarterback who is only two years removed from being a top-three pick in the draft, Lance is worth the swing for this franchise and he gets a fresh start with a new team to prove himself in the NFL.