The Dallas Cowboys acquired quarterback Trey Lance just before last season began, providing some interesting depth behind Dak Prescott.
Of course, this isn’t how things were supposed to go for Lance. He wasn’t supposed to be a “depth” guy.
Lance, who played his collegiate football at North Dakota State, was originally selected by the San Francisco 49ers with the third overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
You know, the draft class that has, thus far, produced a lot of failed quarterbacks.
Lance sat behind Jimmy Garoppolo in Year 1, making six appearances with a couple of starts and throwing for 603 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 57.7 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 97.3.
Then, heading into his sophomore campaign, Lance was named the starter, but he suffered a fractured ankle in Week 2, knocking him out for the season. It also ruined his chances of becoming the 49ers’ franchise quarterback, as Brock Purdy was eventually pressed into starting duty that season.
With Lance’s future in San Francisco obviously being pretty bleak, the Niners traded him to the Cowboys last August.
The question is, will he really get a shot in Dallas?
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated answered a question about Lance’s status in a recent mailbag and said that while Lance could be an adequate backup for Prescott, he probably isn’t the solution if Prescott departs in free agency next March. At least not right now.
Breer then provided a rather intriguing comparison for Lance: Tyrod Taylor.
Taylor has had a largely successful NFL career while primarily serving as a backup. While he did make a Pro Bowl as a starter for the Buffalo Bills back in 2015 and was the Bills’ starting signal-caller for three straight years, it’s pretty obvious that Taylor’s is best served as an elite QB2.
Breer says that it would be a “big win” if Lance can become a Taylor type of player, where he could fill in for an injured starter and the team wouldn’t experience a colossal dropoff (depending on who the starting quarterback is, of course).
While Lance will probably never live up to his billing as the No. 3 overall pick, all hope isn’t lost for the Marshall, Mn. native who just turned 24 years old on Thursday.
We’ll see if Trey Lance is able to carve out a successful career in the NFL in some shape or fashion.
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