Former San Francisco 49ers prized first round pick Trey Lance fell out of favor in San Francisco’s quarterback room and seem destined to be a the third string option heading into the regular season.
However, the Niners decided to ship Lance to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a fourth-round pick, a horrid return for the Niners, who selected him with the third overall pick in 2021, giving up three first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins to move up from the 12th overall pick to land him.
The move left Lance happy. “I really tried to not expect anything one way or another, but I can say that when I heard ‘Cowboys,’ I had a big smile on my face,” Lance said. “I was very excited to be here.”
“It’s not how I expected it to go. It’s not how I think a lot of people expected it to go,” Lance said, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer. “But I believe that everything happens for a reason. I think I’m here for a reason. Regardless of what it is, just want to try to find a way to help the team.”
“I’m kind of really trying to move on, but yeah, it definitely took some time,” Lance continued. “That conversation obviously wasn’t something I wanted to hear, but that’s the reality of the situation. Nothing but respect and gratitude for everyone there — coaching staff, locker room, athletic training staff, everyone I spent a ton of time with these last few years. Obviously, it was tough, but for me it was trying to figure out what was next and what’s going to happen in the future.”
Now, Lance will focus on learning a new offense and trying to fit in with his new team.
“It was a little bit surreal for me hearing I was going to come here knowing everything about this historic organization,” Lance said. “Just compared to the 49ers, obviously you think of that as another one of the top-tier, historic organizations, but for me, just very excited to be here. Coach McCarthy and the entire coaching staff, man, nothing but knowledge being in all these meetings. It’s been awesome for me. It’s been fun. Kind of a breath of fresh air to learn a new offense and being around the guys the last two days. I feel like I’ve learned so much just ball.”
Despite Dak Prescott holding down the starting quarterback job for the future, Lance is excited to work with Prescott, whom he has a relationship with already.
“The type of person he is, first and foremost. I think everyone knows that, with the Walter Payton Man of the Year and things like that, how he treats people, how I’ve seen him treat people just in the building these few days,” Lance said. “The few conversations I had with him, just texting him when I had my ankle injury, things like that. Just the type of person he is. And obviously the football stuff kind of speaks for itself. I’m still trying to learn Day 1 install, so for me, obviously got a long way to go there. But definitely looking forward to being a sponge, just soaking up everything I can from him.”
Lance will now be the subject of sports talk podcasts and shows projecting how he fits into the future of the Cowboys, especially if Prescott struggled again in 2023.
