NFL Breaking News: Trey Lance Traded to the Dallas Cowboys

After Trey Lance was relegated to the third-string quarterback on the San Francisco 49ers behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold, we assumed there was going to be a possible trade in the works for Lance after GM John Lynch was set to “explore their options” for Lance and his NFL future, whether it was in San Francisco or elsewhere.
In 2023, there was just no place on the roster for Lance as Kyle Shanahan has committed his starting quarterback job, life and first two mortgages essentially to the seventh-round pick in last year’s NFL Draft. With that, the writing was on the wall for Lance. We’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop on a new landing spot, but we just didn’t know it would be THIS soon.
We now have our answer.
Trey Lance is a Dallas Cowboy, as Jerry Jones and the top brass in Dallas have sent a reported 2024 fourth-round pick in exchange for the former top-3 overall quarterback from the 2021 NFL Draft.
What is more surprising that the actual cost of trading for Lance is the teams that DIDN'T make this move, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, and my personal preferred landing spot, the Minnesota Vikings. Kirk Cousins is in the last year of his contract and could have been a nice bridge to a young quarterback with upside to see if he's the guy and then if not, go back into the NFL Draft pool to find a quarterback.
Let’s just say that the Cowboys were NOT in Britt Flinn’s top trade destinations for Lance. How does this move affect fantasy football ADP, and does it make any noise in fantasy football rankings leading up to Week 1?
Trey Lance Fantasy Football Impact
The fantasy football impact is minimal at best, and this trade shouldn’t move any needle in season-long redraft or best ball formats. The only way he’s getting on the field is with a Dak Prescott injury, and that’s not even a certainty with Cooper Rush still in the fold.
Trey Lance has played in just eight games in his career, started four of them, and left injured in two of them. The thesis of the Lance play has always been athleticism and what he can do to stress defenses with his arm and rushing ability. The operating word here is “can” because he clearly hasn’t shown enough of either ability to be in the plans for the 49ers, so after sending multiple first-round selections to move up in the 2021 NFL Draft to draft him, the 49ers are washing their hands of him for a fourth-round pick. Could the Cowboys get anything out of Lance to provide real, actual value? Well, it cost a Day 3 draft pick, so the cost isn't too much to at least keep him stashed.
Could Lance be an eventual option for the Cowboys in the long term? The Cowboys could cut Dak Prescott as a post-June 1st release that will save approximately $34 million ($25m dead cap) and could pave the way for Lance as the Cowboys quarterback in 2024.
That does seem like a rather implausible scenario, but it’s surely a non-0% outcome, considering the Cowboys were willing to part with a 2024 fourth-round pick for Lance.
Lance is currently going undrafted in most formats as the aggregate QB38 across multiple sites like Underdog, Yahoo, FFPC, RTSports, and NFFC. It would take an injury for Lance even to be a blip on the radar, and again, it wouldn’t even be guaranteed with Cooper Rush still on the roster and ingrained as the backup quarterback in Dallas. If you still roster him in dynasty formats, you have to either trade him for pennies on the dollar or just eat the cost and maybe try to coax a third-round rookie draft pick out of a dynasty manager who is still optimistic, i.e. a Cowboys fan.
NFL Links:
- 2023 FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT GUIDE
- 2023 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet
- 2023 NFL Pre-Season Player Projections
- 2023 Fantasy Football Position Rankings
Player News
Alex Anzalone was absent from the Lions’ offseason workouts this week.
While Anzalone hasn’t explicitly said he wants a new contract, it doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots here. The Lions co-captain who turns 31 in September is a notable absence from optional offseason workouts this week after making multiple references to his value to the Lions on social media. Those references include a graph of the Lions’ defensive decline in DVOA in the seven games Anzalone missed last year as well as a note about the linebacker market increasing after Nick Bolton signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Chiefs. Detroit hasn’t been bashful about handing out extensions in recent years and Anzalone, who’s entering the last year of a three-year, $18 million contract, believes he is next in line.
Ravens signed DT John Jenkins to a one-year contract.
The 35-year-old 13th-year pro slides in as a 1-for-1 Michael Pierce replacement after the former Raven retired in March. Although strictly a two-down player, Jenkins actually played a new career high 606 snaps for the Raiders last season. He probably won’t reach that total in Baltimore, but he should see plenty of work as a run-stopper.
49ers signed K Greg Joseph.
The 30-year-old journeyman spent time with each of the Giants, Commanders and Jets last season. He’ll serve as a veteran, in-house option should third-year pro Jake Moody look shaky this summer after an underwhelming 2024.
49ers signed Brock Purdy to a five-year, $265 million contract extension.
Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Purdy gets $181 million in total guarantees with $165.1 million in the first three new years. He is now under contract through 2030. The 2022 Mr. Irrelevant flashed in a handful of starts as a rookie and immediately proved to be Kyle Shanahan’s next efficiency phenom in 2023 with 4,280 yards and 31 scores. Purdy’s numbers fell in 2024, but he did enough to keep the offense on the tracks despite a rash of injuries, even if the 49ers lumbered to a 6-11 record. Purdy managed 3,864 yards and 20 scores in 15 games and showed an improved ability to work out of structure and under pressure. Though he may not have a truly elite ceiling, Purdy is beginning to beat the system quarterback allegations after just two seasons as the full-time starter. With the league’s easiest schedule on tap for 2025, expect a rebound from Purdy and the entire team this year.
Jets released K Greg Zuerlein.
Defensive end Michael Fletcher was signed in a corresponding move. Zuerlein has kicked for the Jets since 2022. He suffered a knee injury last year and briefly returned before being placed back on injured reserve. Zuerlein appeared in eight games and went a dreadful 9-of-15 on his field goal tries. The 60 percent hit rate was by far the worst of his career. Now 37 years old, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Legatron hang up the cleats for good after being released. If he wants to keep kicking, another team will be more than willing to at least give him a camp battle to win.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter said his guess is that the NFL will ban the tush push during next week’s owners’ meeting.
Schefter didn’t cite any sources directly but reiterated the point later in the latest episode of The Adam Schefter Podcast, saying he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the owners voted to outlaw the play. Losing the free touchdown play would undoubtedly hurt Philly’s offense and Jalen Hurts’ fantasy outlook, but it’s hard to imagine a team with Hurts, an elite offensive line, and Saquon Barkley not finding other ways to get in the end zone from a yard out. If the tush push is banned, it would likely just shuffle some of Hurts’ touchdowns to Barkley. Other teams including the Bills have experimented with similar plays, but no one has found as much success as the Eagles. The owners will also be voting on a change to the playoff seeding rules. The proposed change would seed teams based purely on their record instead of each division winner earning a top-four seed. While that may be a more logical way to do things, it’s certainly less fun.