The Dallas Cowboys know now that their offensive identity is lost without Dak Prescott. That became clear after Trey Lance threw 5 interceptions in the preseason finale. Despite this, Jerry Jones thinks the quarterback deserves more reps. In fact, Jones believes that Lance can be a starter in the future.

However, not everyone seems convinced with this solution. In fact, it was none other than 49ers’ coach Kyle Shanahan’s friend Chris Simms who disagreed that Lance is in his “improvement” arc. While he did not directly write the player off the roster for the Cowboys, the analyst did question his presence on the team. After all, the 2021 first-round pick was soon traded by Shanahan and Co as he found his new home in Dallas.

“Sometimes with these quarterbacks, it’s tough. It’s like ‘Okay I recognize there’s some issues in his throwing. Can we fix it? Can we not?’ And I think we’re seeing that with Trey Lance let alone I don’t know if he’s a guy I would classify as an athlete who plays quarterback instead of a quarterback who’s a good athlete,” Chris Simms said on NFL on NBC.

Simms further added that Jerry Jones can say what he wants, but the reality of getting intercepted 5 times will catch up with him in the future. Lance completed 33 of his 49 passes over 323 yards against the Chargers and came up with just one touchdown. In the process of doing so, he took 3 sacks as well.

However, Jones was right about one thing, Trey Lance needs a lot of reps. That’s because he didn’t play in the 2023 season at all. Hence, this hiatus has come with a readjustment curve that Lance is having a very hard time dealing with. Moreover, the Cowboys cannot get rid of him because he has a fully guaranteed salary coming in this year.

Consider this about Trey Lance: He’s had more passing attempts during this Cowboys preseason (113) than his whole regular season tenure with the Niners (102). His career is a bit peculiar; despite being in the league for 4 years, he played just 8 games regular-season games in the last 3 years.

Mike McCarthy called Lance’s performance a “tremendous production“ and also voiced that more reps will eventually allow the player to deliver better stats. However, it’s not the head coach that has got everybody scratching their heads, it’s Jerry Jones himself.

Jerry Jones is sure about Trey Lance being on the roster

Despite Trey Lance making the 53-man cut, it’s imperative to note that the Cowboys didn’t exercise the 5-year option on him. Trey Lance becoming a free agent next year could be a very believable reality. The problem is that people are not ready to perceive him as a starting QB, but Jones is willing to give him a necessary push forward.

“I saw good, and I saw some things that you’d like to have back,” Jones admitted. “I hate those five interceptions are going to be a stat on a game that I couldn’t have asked for more reps and a better situation to watch him play. And he needed that because the one thing he’s missing more than anything is the lack of reps.”

Jones is “impressed” by the “improvement” that he’s seen from Lance in the past six weeks. He believes that Lance is “going up dramatically” in practices and games. So far, we haven’t seen that improvement translate onto the field. Jones might be right to an extent about Lance needing more reps.

The Cowboys have won just one preseason game so far, against AOC’s Raiders. Lance showed potential in that game as he went on to complete 15 of his 23 passes over 151 yards but as the America’s Team witnessed, he is no match to Prescott. The latter holds a glorious career over Lance. In 2023 alone, he had a passer rating of 105.9 with 4,516 yards and 36 TDs in 17 games.

Thus, it is clear that Prescott holds a massive value in the team, on individual and group levels. Even the NFL analyst Emmanuel Acho did not mince the words when he said, “I don’t think he’s lTrey] worth the hype. Every year in the draft, there’s usually one quarterback we reach on and we miss on and they’re typically either from a small school or a non-football powerhouse.”

Now, the question is whether the Cowboys will hold on to Dak Prescott’s experience or try to capitalize on Trey Lance’s “improvement.” Only Jerry Jones and time can solve this mystery, after all, each option has its own calculated risk.