When it became obvious that the 49ers would trade quarterback Trey Lance, the best options consisted of teams that potentially needed a better backup — or that needed a potential answer for the future.
The Cowboys didn’t need a better backup. Cooper Rush, who re-signed with a two-year, $5 million deal, has proven he can get it done when needed. But the Cowboys possibly need a potential answer for the future. Or, at a minimum, they need to create the impression that they have one.
It’s not because the Cowboys are ambivalent about starter Dak Prescott, as the Vikings seem to be about Kirk Cousins. This is about Dak’s contract, which has put the Cowboys in a tough spot and which potentially forces the Cowboys to give him market value again, in 2024.
Prescott’s four-year, $160 million deal has a massive cap charge of $59.4 million looming for 2024. Many assumed at the outset of the offseason that, eventually, the Cowboys and Dak would work out an extension. But if Dak wants market-level pay without market-level performance, that makes things a little tricky for the Cowboys.
Enter Lance, who gives the Cowboys a low-cost fall-back option in the event that Prescott potentially persists in wanting another top-of-market deal in early 2024. The Cowboys could trade or, in theory, release Dak. None of his $34 million in 2024 pay is guaranteed.
The cap charge if they keep Dak without a new deal is $59.455 million. The cap charge if they cut him or trade him before June 1 is $61.915 million.
Dak once again has the Cowboys over a barrel. Lance, and his relatively low compensation package (compared to Dak’s), becomes an affordable replacement in 2024, if they cant work out a deal for Dak.
That’s not to mean the Cowboys would prefer to swap out Prescott for Lance. But they need to have a Plan B, or Plan A will drive too hard of a bargain.
Having Lance around, put simply, could make it easier to extend Dak’s deal. And in the event they just can’t figure it out with Dak, they’ve got Lance in the fold as a guy to whom they can turn if Dak drives too hard of a bargain in 2024 — at a time when they’ll need to dig deep to make Micah Parsons one of the highest-paid defensive players in the league.
