The San Francisco 49ers have dealt quarterback and former first round draft pick Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys on Friday in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in a deal that came a few days following the announcement that Sam Darnold had beat out Lance for the Niners backup quarterback job, according to ESPN.
“It was time to move on for him and for us,” Shanahan said. “We’d love to just keep him until eventually it works out, but that clock ran out here, and that’s why we had to make a real tough decision, one we didn’t enjoy doing, but we try to do what we think is best, and this is what we think is best.”
The deal concludes an epic blunder by the 49ers, who dealt three first round picks and a third round pick to the Miami Dolphins to move up to the 3rd overall pick during the 2021 NFL Draft to select Lance.
Lance is scheduled to make $940,000 in 2023 and has a $5.3 million salary in 2024, all of which is guaranteed. The 49ers organization has been ripped by NFL journalists and prominent analysts on social media for their grading of Lance, their trade with Miami, and the way they parted with Lance.
The Cowboys now have their own quarterback intrigue, with veteran Dak Prescott firmly entrenched as the team’s starting signal caller heading into the season.
Prescott, 30, as missed games each of the past three seasons and is coming off a down season in which he tied for the NFL lead in interceptions last year with 15 over the course of 12 games for Dallas.
Prescott says he is healthy and ready to go this upcoming season.
“I’m blessed. I’m thankful. I’m healthy,” Prescott said. “It’s one of those things you don’t want to harp on too much, but yeah, I am much different than I am the last few years and will continue to try to stay that way and take care of my body.”
This upcoming season will be critical for the current structure of the Cowboys, including Prescott, who has yet to take the Cowboys past the divisional round of the playoffs in four postseason appearances.
“At the end of the day, the pressure is what you put on yourselves,” Prescott said. “So I think at the end of the day we’ve got to understand that our standard is wins, simple as that. We hold ourselves to a high standard and high expectations. Nobody wants to end this drought more than the guys in the locker room, I can promise you that.
“For us, it’s about making sure we know in our identity, we believe in our identity as a team, we go out there and play complementary football at all three levels. I think if we do that, just from what we’ve built during the offseason to training camp to now, it’s promising.”
“I do think Trey needs an opportunity to play more,” Shanahan said. “The opportunities he’s had here, when he has had those two opportunities, he got hurt. He kind of missed that window a little bit, gave an opportunity for someone else to do it, and that person did it and stayed healthy for those seven games and showed us something that we’re confident in. Trey kind of needs that again, and he didn’t get that here.”
