Cowboys detail preseason plan for unproven QB Lance
The future of the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff is not guaranteed past the 2024 season.
Head coach Mike McCarthy and his staff are headed into the final seasons of their contracts and/or are working on one-year deals with the unspoken charge of getting the Cowboys to at least the NFC title game, if not the Super Bowl, to have a chance to be retained.
Yet, the main of objective to offensive coaches of the offseason, training camp and preseason to determine the future of thirdstring quarterback Trey Lance.
After the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for Lance last August, the Cowboys are not in the business of finding out if they are going to get a return on their investment.
It’s a task that is exacerbated by the unknown future of the position with starter Dak Prescott in the final year of his deal and seemingly at an impasse with the organization on a contract extension.
Backup Cooper Rush is also in the final year of his contract, as ironically, is Lance.
The biggest difference is the Cowboys know what they have in Prescott, an eight-year veteran who is coming off the finest season of his career when he finished second in NFL MVP balloting and led the league in passing touchdowns.
They know they have capable backup in Rush, who is 5-1 as a starter in place of Prescott in his career but has no future as QB1.
What Lance is and what he can be remains an unresolved mystery — even with his pedigree as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL.
The 49ers gave up three firstround picks to make Lance their
franchise quarterback but ultimately gave up on him because injuries, a lack of playing time and the breakout play of Brock Purdy.
So they traded him to Dallas, who now have the task seeing if he can develop into a starter or trusty backup, depending on what they decide to do with Prescott and Rush.
“The guys obviously an unbelievable athlete but we need to get him the reps,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “How do you learn to play the position of quarterback, unless you’re playing right.”
The issue with Lance is that he hasn’t played much since high school. He had just 17 starts in college North Dakota State and just four in two years with the 49ers. All totaled he has just 410 pass attempts since 2018 combined.
“We know Dak. We know Coop. He is the question mark,” Schottenheimer said. “There’s so much he doesn’t know that he’s got to figure out. And so that’s what’s exciting about that if he can be he can be a really good player because he’s wired the right way and the way he works. We just got to give them the opportunity to show us that with the year under his belt and being comfortable.
“It’s gonna be all about getting him a ton of reps throughout OTAs, mini camp and then training camp. You’re gonna see him getting a ton right leading into the preseason.”
It’s the next step in the progression for Lance. He spending much of past season learning the fundamentals of how the Cowboys want him to play quarterback and learning the offense.
“Our big objective from the time he got back is obviously making sure he’s good with this system, which has been great,” Schottenheimer said. “Number two, is getting his fundamentals where we want them. Okay. A guy that was at North Dakota State and San Francisco. The way they teach quarterbacks very different than how we teach a West Coast quarterback. It’s been a totally different light put on him now because we’re excited about the skills where we see the talent.
“The best thing he does to this day is still improvise and move. So now let’s see what concepts he likes to see what he’s comfortable doing from a protection standpoint of solving problems and things like that. And over the time, we’re gonna get that figured out so we could put together a really good package for him when he’s got it to go play.”
Lance will play a lot training camp and the preseason as the Cowboys try to find out about unknown quarterback for a uncertain future.