Cowboys' Jerry Jones again addresses trading for QB Trey Lance

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones clearly has no regrets about acquiring quarterback Trey Lance from the San Francisco 49ers for a 2024 fourth-round draft pick in late August. 

"I knew immediately when they said they might want to trade him that we wanted to not let them off the phone and get it done," Jones said about the transaction during a chat with Todd Archer of ESPN. "I didn’t have to go through any committee meetings. That’s the nature of our system around here is that I don’t have to talk to the owner, I don’t have to coax the general manager. I just do it." 

Jones offered similar comments last month after Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy revealed he was "not involved" in "the actual business component of" Dallas landing Lance. While some have accused Jones of overpaying for the unproven 23-year-old who had been relegated to third on San Francisco's depth chart, Archer reported that the Cowboys "had a second-round grade on Lance" in 2021 before he became the third overall pick of that year's draft. 

Archer added that "sources with direct knowledge of the process said McCarthy knew the Cowboys had talks with the Niners before the trade was consummated." 

Lance made just four starts and attempted a total of 102 regular-season passes before he suffered a campaign-ending ankle injury in Week 2 of the 2022 season. He ultimately lost the San Francisco starting job to Brock Purdy and became surplus to requirements with that club after free-agency signing Sam Darnold won the primary backup job this past August. 

"He was an outstanding prospect -- is an outstanding prospect -- as we see it," Jones said about Lance. "Philosophically, we would at all times like to have a young upcoming quarterback on the team. This gave us a chance to do it. Every time we draft, we try to do this if we don’t have a young player in this spot. But it’s usually not available to us at this quality level that Lance is." 

Dallas starter Dak Prescott signed a four-year contract in March 2021 and likely will need to put pen to paper on an extension for salary-cap purposes before the next NFL year opens in March 2024. Meanwhile, Lance is currently learning the Dallas offense while sitting beneath both Prescott and primary backup Cooper Rush on the depth chart.

"You don’t threaten Dak Prescott’s job in my mind at all," Jones explained. "You can’t. Because he’s such a great leader, he’s established what he has done in his career. There’s no question, if healthy, we want him on the field trying to win football games for us. So that’s not an issue, either, and it’s a fact of life that you are better off as a team … the better backup quarterbacking you have because they do get hurt." 

Archer noted that Lance will only be eligible to play when the 3-1 Cowboys face the 4-0 49ers at San Francisco's Levi's Stadium this coming Sunday night if both Prescott and Rush become unavailable. Such a scenario would make for a fascinating storyline, and the same can be said about Lance's future with the Cowboys beyond this season.