Under-the-radar redemption stories are a staple of preseason football, and Trey Lance’s is one of this year’s best. After surviving a trying experience in San Francisco that led to him being labeled a bust, the 49ers shipped Lance to Dallas, where he was relegated to a distant third on the Cowboys depth chart.
Give Lance credit for perseverance, though. A lot of young QBs who have this kind of experience simply stash the cash from their rookie deals, then “resign” themselves to a relative life of luxury carrying a clipboard for a decade or more.
Not Trey Lance. He’s genuinely trying to resurrect his career, and he’s taking this preseason seriously. Lance knows these games are his Super Bowl as he tries to show out for his next gig, and when Dallas travels to Las Vegas to meet the Raiders, he’ll be trying to build on his opening performance as he puts together a new resume.
The Trey Lance experience: the San Francisco years
Lance came out of tiny North Dakota State as one of two marquee #1 draft picks in 2021, joining Zach Wilson as the two top guys that few people knew anything about. Wilson immediately flashed an array of maturity issues that quickly made him chum for the New York media, but Lance had a different problem entirely.
In a word, it was an experience. Lance had an impressive grouping of physical tools, but the number of snaps he’d taken was limited, to put it kindly, so his learning curve was immense. Kyle Shanahan has a well-earned rep for being tough on quarterbacks, and when Lance was overwhelmed by that learning curve, it didn’t take long for the coach to start making snide comments that were clearly meant to disparage comments about his supposedly #1 guy.
Then the injury bug bit hard. After hurting a finger on his throwing hand that altered his mechanics, then breaking his ankle, an unheralded Brock Purdy grabbed the opportunity and did what Lance was supposed to do. San Fran then peddled Lance to the Cowboys for a 5th-round pick as Stephen and Jerry Jones decided to take a flyer on a distressed asset.
Disappearing in Dallas
Once he was acquired by the Cowboys, Lance basically disappeared from the mainstream QB coverage, which, in hindsight, may have been the best thing to happen to him. With Dak Prescott sucking up the spotlight oxygen in his never-ending battle to squeeze more money out of Jerry Jones, Lance had time to work on his craft and take advantage of the unique privacy enjoyed by third-string quarterbacks.
No one really knows if that’s what’s actually happening, though, until the rubber hits the road in a semi-real game. Lance hit the ground running against the Rams in the Cowboys preseason opener, running for 44 yards on just 6 carries while throwing for 188, although it took him 41 attempts to get to that level.
The numbers weren’t great, but at this point, they don’t have to be. Lance is playing for his next job, and it almost certainly won’t be in Dallas. He didn’t look comfortable in the pocket against the Rams, but the fact that his athleticism remains intact gives him a fighting chance.
So what are the expectations for Sunday’s Vegas tilt? Lance fans will be looking for him to push the ball down the field a little more, while coaches and personnel evaluators around the league will be breaking down his footwork and cleaning up some of the issues that have held him back. The final score won’t matter, as always, but the big question is whether Trey Lance can live to fight another round as he continues to battle to resurrect his NFL career.