Mixed thoughts on Trey Lance during Cowboys training camp

11 months ago, the Dallas Cowboys sent a fourth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers to get quarterback Trey Lance, a player who has very little experience actually playing in the league. Back in 2021, Lance was the Niners’ third overall pick in the draft. In his rookie season, Jimmy Garoppolo was the starter for San Francisco, but Lance came off the bench a few times and made two starts. In his second season, Lance earned the starting job. Unfortunately for him, he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2, and well…we all saw what happened when Brock Purdy took over. Lance didn’t have a chance.

But the Cowboys still believe in him, or at least they did enough to make that trade last year. The timing was interesting...Dallas traded for him at the end of the preseason, so he didn’t get a chance to play before the regular season, and then when the season started, he was the QB3 behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush, never playing in a game.

That brings us to today. Prescott is entering the final year of his contract and waiting for an extension. While the Cowboys are dragging their feet on that, it will happen at some point. Still, it’s directed more attention to Trey Lance, who could potentially take over for Prescott at some point down the line. But with all the untapped potential and unknowns around Lance, how he performs at training camp could tell quite a bit. So…how’s he been so far?

Trey Lance at Cowboys training camp

Well, Lance is getting to throw some passes, but it’s been a mixed bag of results, with most of them on the negative side. On Sunday, he got stopped at the 1-yard line as the clock ran out. He’s throwing to receivers that likely won’t see much of the field this season either, and at least one of those throws was intercepted by rookie Caelen Carson.

Ouch.

At the moment, Lance has yet to even prove he’s worthy of being a QB2, let alone a future face of the franchise. Then again, he might be just a little rusty after starting in just four games in the league in three years.

The few good passes he’s had were too few and far between, even this early on in training camp.

Okay.

Lance will have the opportunity to play in the Cowboys’ first preseason game on Sunday, August 11 against the Los Angeles Rams. If he can put up some good passes and show he still has what it takes to play in the big league, then maybe he can finally silence the doubters.

Until then, trading a fourth-round draft pick to take Lance will remain a complete mystery to Cowboys fans.