By Jeff Howe, Dianna Russini, Jon Machota, Saad Yousuf, Matt Barrows and David Lombardi
The San Francisco 49ers are trading quarterback Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys, per league sources. Here’s what you need to know:
- San Francisco will receive a 2024 fourth-round pick from Dallas as compensation, team sources confirmed to The Athletic.
- Lance, 23, played in eight games over two seasons while starting four.
- The 49ers have opened up $940,000 in 2023 salary-cap space and $5.3 million in 2024 cap space. Dallas will take on all of Lance’s fully guaranteed contract.
- The No. 3 pick only played in two games last year before having season-ending ankle surgery.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Why the Cowboys made this trade
This is a surprise move by a Cowboys team that had their three quarterback spots locked up going into their final preseason game with Dak Prescott as the starter, Cooper Rush as the backup and Will Grier as the No. 3. The addition of Lance means Dallas at the very least has hopes of him becoming their backup of the future.
The move makes sense from the standpoint of giving up a fourth-round pick for a former third overall pick. It also shows the Cowboys probably liked what they saw from Lance coming out of North Dakota State. He’s only 23. If Mike McCarthy and company can develop him into a solid backup with starter upside then they got a steal for only a fourth round pick. If it doesn’t work out, it seems like it was worth the gamble at the most important position in the game.
As of today, Dallas would probably hope to go into next season with Prescott as their starter and Lance as their backup. Rush, who turns 30 in November, has been good in that role over the last two years, going 5-1 as a starter. But he doesn’t have the upside of a player like Lance. — Machota
The Cowboys trading for Lance is a shrewd move by Jerry Jones and the front office. There’s absolutely no question that this is Prescott’s franchise heading into this season, but Lance’s presence gives the team a quarterback in the room who carries a similar skill set to Prescott, at least more so than Rush.
Rush did an admirable job filling in for Prescott last season, going 4-1 early in the season and keeping Dallas afloat, but he has fairly limited potential in terms of upside. The Cowboys signed Rush to a two-year deal earlier this offseason but they can get out of it after this year, setting up a Prescott-Lance depth chart for the 2024 season. — Yousuf
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Why Lance is the perfect backup to Prescott
Lance heading to the Cowboys seems entirely appropriate. When the 49ers drafted Lance in 2021, they hoped he could become similar to Prescott — someone who could gouge defenses with both his arm and his legs. It turned out Lance wasn’t quite the runner they expected. He never ran a 40-yard dash ahead of the NFL Scouting Combine, and he ended up being a little slower than expected.
The fact that Lance went against teams like Illinois State and James Madison may have made it seem as if he was a more effective runner than what he turned out to be against NFL competition. Lance and Prescott also experienced similar ankle fractures in recent years. Lance has been cleared of his 2022 injury since early in the offseason and it hasn’t hindered him in OTAs or training camp. — Barrows
Prescott is a proven franchise quarterback but Lance’s presence, if he develops into what he was thought to be, could provide a little extra nudge to Prescott. If Lance develops and Prescott gets stagnate, or even regresses, Dallas will have options to weigh down the road to see what price point lines up best with performance.
The more likely scenario, though, is that Lance is able to learn from Prescott and get better, to the point where the Cowboys are then able to flip him in the future for a player or a draft haul that will most likely exceed the fourth-round price they gave up to get him. — Yousuf
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What the 49ers’ QB depth looks like now
Having layers of quarterback depth was paramount for San Francisco this offseason after they literally ran out of them in January. With Lance heading to Dallas, Brandon Allen moves to the No. 3 spot. The 49ers will save $940,000 because of the Lance trade but will take on a $1.1 million cap hit if they hold onto Allen as expected.
Had the trade not occurred, the team likely would have had to cut Allen on Tuesday and crossed their fingers he’d pass through waivers and land on their practice squad. That would have been risky with other teams — most notably the Cincinnati Bengals — scouring the waiver wire.
It’s now likely San Francisco will try to bring in a young quarterback for their practice squad, someone they can groom during the season and who could possibly be serviceable at season’s end if they have to turn to a No. 4 for the second straight year. — Barrows
How San Francisco’s roster construction process benefits
To begin, the 49ers have netted a fourth-round pick that now gives them 11 total selections in the 2024 NFL Draft. But the salary-cap savings here are also notable for San Francisco. They’ve offloaded over $6 million in cap liabilities over the next two seasons.
The team was already way over the projected limit in 2024 and more cost-cutting maneuvers will be necessary. This one just might give the 49ers a little more flexibility in acquiring new players. — Barrows
A history of a high-profile trades
This isn’t the first high-profile trade between the 49ers and Cowboys. In 1992, San Francisco traded All-Pro defensive end Charles Haley to Dallas for a second- and third-round pick. It’s a trade the 49ers would come to regret, as Haley went on to help the Cowboys beat San Francisco in two consecutive NFC title games.
Haley won three Super Bowls with Dallas and represented a tipping point in the fortunes of the two franchises.— Lombardi
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Zagaris / Getty Images)