Cowboys Not Considering Starting Trey Lance Over Cooper Rush

Trey Lance has been on the Cowboys’ roster for more than 14 months. Dallas added the former San Francisco starter after Sam Darnold had beaten him out for the 49ers’ QB2 job in 2023, effectively going forward with a roster stash. But Lance has not made much progress with his second NFL team.

The former No. 3 overall pick entered this season as the Cowboys’ third-stringer, doing so after being inactive throughout the 2023 slate. Any notions of him factoring into the team’s 2025 starter conversation were buried once the team gave Dak Prescott a record-smashing extension (four years, $240MM). With Prescott moving to IR, the door is open for Lance. For the time being, however, a 3-5 Cowboys team does not appear to have designs on starting him.

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Cooper Rush is the locked-in starter over Lance, according to ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano, who indicates the team believes the veteran provides a better chance to win. Lance-specific packages may be implemented, but Graziano adds no consideration is being given to him leapfrogging Rush on the depth chart for a potential extended look. This comes after Stephen Jones kept the door open for Lance work amid Prescott’s hamstring injury.

With the Cowboys teetering on the brink of dropping out of the playoff chase during a season in which Mike McCarthy is a lame duck, it is certainly understandable the coaching staff is not interested in long-term evaluations just yet. Whether ownership could eventually intervene could be an interesting subplot for this year’s Cowboys edition, especially if the team’s current losing streak continues without Prescott, who is guaranteed to miss at least four games.

Dallas has held its own with Rush at the helm in the past, going 5-1 with the former UDFA as the starter. Rush, who is five years into his second Cowboys stint, replaced Prescott in September 2022 — after the longtime starter suffered a thumb injury. Prescott missed five games that season, and Rush earned praise by going 4-1 as a starter during that stretch. He completed less than 59% of his passes, however, at just 6.5 yards per clip. Prescott already exited Week 9 ranked 25th in QBR, highlighting issues with the quarterback’s performance and the team around him. It will be interesting to see how Rush fares in this situation, as he now holds the keys to the Cowboys reentering playoff discussions or moving toward the NFC basement.

An midsummer report indicating Lance had a chance to usurp Rush did not precede such a move, as Rush held onto the No. 2 QB gig during training camp. The Cowboys gave Lance extensive preseason work, as the North Dakota State alum has a historically thin resume — for a top prospect, at least — in terms of game work post-high school. The Cowboys were tied to a fully guaranteed $5MM on Lance’s contract by trading for him, but they joined the Steelers (Justin Fields), Jaguars (Mac Jones) and Broncos (Zach Wilson) in declining the fifth-year option on a traded first-round QB from the 2021 class.

With Rush a fairly known commodity at 30, any Lance work would immediately generate more interest in Dallas. Lance, 24, has not seen any regular-season action since a fractured ankle sustained in Week 2 of the 2022 season moved him out of the 49ers’ starting lineup. The 49ers had reached a renegotiated deal with Jimmy Garoppolo as Lance insurance that year, after the team spent the offseason dangling Garoppolo in trades. With Lance proving unready, Garoppolo (and then Brock Purdy) piloted San Francisco back to the NFC championship game. Darnold then beat out Lance, who had effectively lost his job to a former seventh-round pick, leading him to Dallas.

The Cowboys have now given up fourth-round picks in trades for Lance and Jonathan Mingo, the latter transaction occurring Tuesday. While Mingo is signed through 2026, Lance is not headed toward 2025 free agency with any momentum. The Cowboys could potentially provide some by greenlighting some game work, but more than a year into his Dallas tenure, it is notable the team is not looking into moving him past an eighth-year backup to replace Prescott.