Report: Cowboys decline fifth-year option on ex-49ers QB Lance originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Former 49ers quarterback Trey Lance is still dealing with an uncertain NFL future, but one thing about his tumultuous journey became clearer Wednesday.
The Dallas Cowboys will decline to pick up the fifth-year option on Lance’s 2025 contract, ESPN’s Todd Archer reported, citing a source, noting that picking up the option would have cost Dallas a fully guaranteed $22.4 million.
The 49ers drafted Lance No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, and his tenure with San Francisco was marred by injuries before being cut short by the emergence of Brock Purdy as the starter. Before the start of the 2023 NFL regular season, the 49ers traded Lance to the Cowboys for a 2024 fourth-round draft pick, which the team used last week to select safety Malik Mustapha at No. 124 overall.
Lance played in just eight games (four starts) over two seasons with the 49ers, and he arrived in Dallas immediately behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush on the depth chart. The 23-year-old was inactive for all 17 of the Cowboys’ games during the 2023 NFL season, and now he will compete with Rush for the backup job in Dallas this summer.
Between the coronavirus pandemic and injuries, Lance last played substantial snaps in 2019 for North Dakota State. But he’s not the only quarterback from the 2021 draft class to struggle — the only one from that group to have his fifth-year option picked up was Jacksonville Jaguars star Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick.
Despite Lance’s bad luck so far, his former 49ers teammate Trent Williams said in October that he believes the young quarterback will find his way back to a starting role.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Williams told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, “but I think in this league if you do the right things and it’s made up of the right things, eventually the opportunities will find their way back to you.” you.
“And I think that will happen in Trey’s case. And if he does, we will all see the talent that everyone knows lies within him.”
The clock is certainly ticking on the opportunity that Lance presents. And while it feels like every summer has been a mixed bag for Lance, he certainly has something to prove heading into the 2024 season.
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