The Denver Broncos will almost surely be parting ways with Russell Wilson this offseason, meaning they will be in the hunt for a quarterback. Could they turn to the Dallas Cowboys for the answer?
Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac thinks so.
In an article in which Ginnitti assesses and predicts each NFL team’s quarterback situation heading into 2024, he forecasts that the Broncos will swing a trade to acquire Trey Lance from the Cowboys via late-round pick swap.
Lance, who played his collegiate football at North Dakota State, was originally selected by the San Francisco 49ers with the third overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
He spent his rookie campaign backing up Jimmy Garoppolo, making a couple of starts and throwing for 603 yards, five touchdowns and a couple of interceptions. The following year, Lance was named the starter over Garoppolo, but an ankle injury ended his season in Week 2.
With the emergence of Brock Purdy later on in 2022, the 49ers had no real need for Lance anymore, so they traded him to the Cowboys for a fourth-round draft pick just before the start of the 2023 season.
Lance still hasn’t gotten much of a chance to show his stuff, so we don’t know yet if he is capable of being a franchise quarterback. That means other quarterback-needy teams may be curious and could very well sniff around to see if Lance is available this offseason.
It seems pretty clear that Wilson is done in Denver, as the Broncos benched him for the final two games of the year after Wilson refused to defer his $37 million injury guarantee. Denver is expected to cut Wilson this March, which will open up the signal-caller job in the Mile High City.
The Broncos won’t have a good enough draft pick to take one of the top young quarterbacks in this spring’s draft class, so they will have to resort to free agency or making a trade to fill the opening under center. Lance could very well represent an option for the club.
However, given the fact that Dallas just surrendered a fourth-rounder for Lance, it seems fairly unlikely that it would settle for a late-round pick swap if it opts to move him.
The Broncos are 8-8 and were eliminated from playoff contention this past weekend. They will wrap up the regular season when they take on the Los Angeles Chargers next Sunday.
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