Cowboys' Jerry Jones not sold on starting top NFL quarterback prospect

Trey Lance was the No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, when he was selected by the San Francisco 49ers to potentially be the future of the franchise.

The 49ers moved up from the No. 12 slot to the third pick in a trade with the Miami Dolphins to draft Lance. However, the moving and shaking did not turn out the way the 49ers had hoped – at least in Lance’s case. He started four games for San Francisco and was 2-2.

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Lance suffered a few injuries, and Brock Purdy eventually emerged as the team’s starting quarterback. He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2023 and has sat as the third string quarterback behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush.

Even with Prescott finished for the 2024 season and Rush not performing well, team owner Jerry Jones said he does not want to see Lance in the game.

"I thought Rush actually had improvement last night from the game before. He didn’t have far to go to get improvement, but I did think he had improvement," Jones said in an interview on 105.3 The Fan.

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"And frankly, there were times in that ballgame that I thought it was really coming to it. And we know that we’ve got limited time to work with these quarterbacks at this particular time, and I would look for us to stay with the experience."

Jones added that he does not think the Cowboys missed when they traded a mid-round pick for him and said he thought Lance has "improved dramatically" since the trade, according to Yahoo Sports.

"You’ve got to get out there, and you’ve got to play. We have thought it was just too important for us to have him at rookie quarterback in these last two ballgames, because we need to win to that degree and give ourselves every chance we can."

Lance has 818 passing yards and five touchdown passes in nine total games. He made an appearance with the Cowboys against the Philadelphia Eagles. He was 4-of-6 for 21 yards and threw an interception.

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