Why Cowboys refuse to turn to Trey Lance during lost season

The Cowboys aren’t concerned with developing a young quarterback.

Despite their 3-7 record and having less than one percent chance of making the playoffs according to ESPN’s probabilities, the Cowboys will continue to start veteran Cooper Rush over project Trey Lance.

Owner Jerry Jones said after Monday’s 34-10 loss to the Texans that the team will start Rush against Washington in Week 12 since he gives the team the best chance to win, per DLLS.

He later downplayed the idea of playing Lance during a radio interview Tuesday.

“I don’t know that,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “I thought Rush actually had improvement (Monday) night from the game before. He didn’t have far to go to get improvement, but I did think he had improvement. And frankly, there were times in that ballgame that I thought it was really coming to it.

“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.”

He added, per CBS: “I think our best chance is to have Rush in here, and the goal is to win the game.”

With the season all but lost and Dak Prescott sidelined, now would seemingly be the time for the Cowboys to see what they have in Lance.

Rush is a serviceable backup but he frankly is what he is seven seasons into his career.

Lance, in theory, has untapped potential that a team headed for a top-10 draft pick should seemingly attempt to unearth down the stretch.

The 49ers drafted Lance with the third pick of the 2021 NFL Draft knowing he needed reps to realize his potential. However, his 2022 season ended early due to injury and Brock Purdy ultimately Wally Pipp’d him.

Dallas took a shot on Lance at a reasonable cost of a fourth-rounder in a trade before last season, but he did not throw a single pass while Prescott led the team to the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

Lance has appeared in just one game this season, throwing six passes.

Jones noted that the Cowboys thought it was “just too important” to go with Lance in the last two games, losses to the Eagles and Texans, since they needed wins to try to stay afloat in the playoff race.

Jones also disagreed with the notion that perhaps the Cowboys overestimated Lance’s readiness when they acquired him.

“We knew exactly where Trey Lance was when he left San Francisco,” Jones said. “We knew he hadn’t played much football. He has improved dramatically. You got to get out there and you got to play.”

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said the team has a specific package for Lance, while offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer corroborated Jones’ opinion that Lance has improved.

“We had some things ready for him [Lance],” said Schottenheimer, per CBS. “If you look back on the game, we had a lot of young guys playing. Trey, if he gets in there, he’s going to go in there and perform, so yeah, you’d love to get him some reps. The guy is getting better. He’s getting reps, he’s getting better.

“The cool thing is we’ve been able to add each week to the package, and there’s things that he’s comfortable with. Hopefully we can get it on display this week.”