The Cowboys caused a stir in the world of NFL news coverage on Friday evening when they made a trade with the 49ers for former 3rd overall pick Trey Lance.
Lance, who was selected by San Francisco in the 2021 NFL Draft, had recently fallen to third on the 49ers depth chart behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold.
That drove 49ers GM John Lynch to explore trade opportunities.
“They said, ‘we want to trade him,’ and we said, ‘done,’” Jones told reporters at AT&T Stadium on Saturday ahead of the Cowboys’ final preseason game. “He gives us an opportunity to do what we would always like to be doing. It would be ideal with Dak [Prescott] to have a young developing quarterback that could just be in the room.”
Dallas traded a 4th round pick in 2024 for Lance, a player that both Jerry and Stephen Jones told reporters they had graded high on their draft board in 2021.
Stephen Jones declined to specify the exact grade the team had on Lance.
The move raises eyebrows across the NFL, as Prescott is once more in line for a new deal. His current deal expires at the end of next season, and was an occasionally painful negotiation for the Cowboys that last more than two years.
Jerry Jones told reporters on Saturday that he didn’t inform Prescott of the trade in advance, and had not spoken with him since the deal was made. Prescott and Jones were seen embracing on the field about 30 minutes before kickoff against the Raiders.
Jones said that he still expects to get a new deal done with Prescott, and the opportunity to trade for Lance was simply too good to pass up.
Didn’t cross my mind — period — about an impact here regarding Dak,” Jones said, downplaying that the trade gives them leverage in negotiations with Prescott. “I know that Dak wants to do anything we can do to improve this team. We’re going to do it. The facts are the decision to bring in as high a quality of talent as we could and that’s a young talent ... we’ve been trying to do what we did today ... almost every draft.
“The minute that we knew that they were serious about trading him, then we didn’t want the phone to hang up.”
Related
