As a final decision is sought out in terms of how Dak Prescott will proceed with respect to his hamstring injury, the Cowboys need to sort out who will start under center for the remainder of the campaign. Discussions will take place on whether Cooper Rush will get the nod next week or if he will be replaced by Trey Lance.

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Rush played most of Sunday’s contest – a blowout loss to the Eagles in which Dallas mustered only two field goals – completing 13 of 23 passes for 45 yards. He also fumbled twice, something which contributed to the Cowboys’ overall turnover problem in the loss. The 30-year-old now has seven starts to his name, all with the Cowboys.

Lance saw time at different parts of the game, and overall he went four-for-six passing with an interception. The former 49er added 17 yards on three carries, and his rushing ability gives him a different skillset than Rush as the Cowboys contemplate their options. Heading into Week 10, it was clear Rush was the team’s preferred choice under center; it ultimately came as little surprise that Lance was included in certain aspects of the game plan, however.

“We’re not there yet,” head coach Mike McCarthy said in his post-game press conference (video link). “I mean, we had a package for him. We wanted to get him into the flow of the game was the thought process coming in here. Then to get him in when we did, then I took him out on the third down… I put Cooper back in for that play, for third down, we had the fumble, the turnover there. Something I’ll obviously discuss tomorrow.”

Acquired via trade after the 49ers elected to move on from him, Lance did not see any playing time last year. Prescott’s injury has opened the door for the former No. 3 pick to receive a look during the second half of the campaign, though, something which would greatly influence his market value. Lance, 24, joins Rush in being a pending free agent.

Sitting at 3-6 on the year, the Cowboys’ prospects of a postseason berth are increasingly bleak. Once Prescott’s attention fully turns to rehab, the quarterback spot will no doubt be one focused largely on evaluation to close out the season. It would thus come as no surprise if both Rush and Lance were to see notable time, but no decision for Week 11 has been made yet.

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.

Trey Lance has been in the Cowboys’ system for nearly a year, but the former No. 3 overall pick has not gone through a preseason slate with his current team yet. While Lance joins most of the 2021 first-round QB quintet in being headed toward free agency, the Cowboys want to give the former 49ers draftee an extended look come August.

Set to resume a competition with Cooper Rush for Dallas’ No. 2 QB gig, Lance will likely see more time during the team’s three-game preseason slate. The Cowboys know what they have in Rush, who has spent almost his entire seven-plus-year NFL career with the team. As Rush goes into another camp with the Cowboys, he may be poised to wind up in an emergency role — thanks to another NFL rule change this offseason — in Year 8.

Although a recent assessment of the Rush-Lance matchup pegged the more experienced option as leading the competition for the backup job, that may well change once the team sets its 53-man roster. Lance is likely to be the second QB the Cowboys carry once they set their initial 53, The Athletic’s Jon Machota notes (subscription required).

The team is unlikely to put three QBs on its active roster, and Machota adds the former high-end prospect would need to “look awful” during camp and the preseason to not be Dak Prescott‘s top backup. This would stand to make Rush more of an insurance option, as the Cowboys hope their August 2023 trade pickup has another level to reach during their upcoming training camp.

It would be unsurprising to see the Cowboys prioritize Lance upon setting their roster, even if it came at the expense of Rush’s roster spot. Not yet a vested veteran, Lance would need to be exposed to waivers if the Cowboys placed Rush as Prescott’s only backup. Rush is a vested vet, and given his familiarity with the team, the former UDFA being open to sticking around as the emergency option on the practice squad seems realistic.

A number of teams will probably take this route, as the NFL has increased flexibility to stash a third-string QB on its taxi squad. While the 49ers’ experience in the 2022 NFC championship game prompted the league to reintroduce the emergency rule in 2023, its offseason rule change will provide teams more flexibility this year. Clubs can elevate a practice squad QB onto their 55-man gameday rosters as many times as they choose, which would allow the Cowboys to keep Lance from the waiver wire while Rush resides on their 16-man P-squad.

Joining Zach Wilson, Justin Fields and Mac Jones as 2021 first-round quarterbacks to be traded over the past year, Lance is tied to a $5.3MM guarantee. He spent the 2023 season as Dallas’ No. 3 QB, with the team carrying three on its roster last year. As expected, the Cowboys passed on Lance’s fifth-year option ($22.41MM) in May. Lance, 24, has not thrown a regular-season pass since September 2022, when a broken ankle led to the 49ers changing moving to a course that eventually involved Brock Purdy making a stunning leap from Mr. Irrelevant to productive starter.

Lance, who famously only started one season at North Dakota State due to the COVID-19 pandemic nixing the fall schedules for Division I-FCS teams, has only thrown 102 NFL passes. The emergency QB rule would allow the Cowboys the chance to effectively keep Rush as their backup come Week 1 — in the event Lance truly is not ready — but they plan to give the younger option every chance to overtake the 30-year-old vet in August.