Rich Barnes/Getty ImagesQuarterback Trey Lance will get "a ton of reps" for the Dallas Cowboys this offseason, Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer told Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The Cowboys are still working out what role Lance will play behind starter Dak Prescott and backup Cooper Rush, Schottenheimer indicated.
"We know Dak. We know Coop. He is the question mark," Schottenheimer said, per Hill. "There's so much he doesn't know that he's got to figure out. And so that's what's exciting about that if he can be he can be a really good player because he's wired the right way and the way he works. We just got to give them the opportunity to show us that with the year under his belt and being comfortable.
"It's gonna be all about getting him a ton of reps throughout OTAs, mini camp and then training camp. You're gonna see him getting a ton right leading into the preseason."
The Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick to acquire Lance from the San Francisco 49ers last August. He last played a regular-season NFL game in September 2022.
Schottenheimer said the Cowboys plan to work on getting Lance's "fundamentals where we want them," per Hill.
Lance is currently signed at a cap hit of $5.3 million through the 2024 season.
The Cowboys recently declined a fifth-year option that would have locked him in for a fully-guaranteed $22.4 million for the 2025 season, per ESPN's Todd Archer.
Like Lance, neither Prescott nor Rush is locked in past 2024.
Prescott, who led the NFL with 36 passing touchdowns during his 2023 All-Star season, is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
Dallas must now choose whether to extend their starting quarterback, consider trading him, or risk losing him for nothing next spring.
It is safe to assume Prescott will not be making any exhibition appearances while the Cowboys make this decision. The longtime starter has not appeared in a preseason game since 2019.
Lance will meanwhile be given a larger preseason role, in part to test if he could serve as a capable backup should Prescott go down.
After 66 individual quarterbacks earned starts amid a spike in positional injuries in 2023, the Cowboys would ideally like to know just how deep their signal-calling depth goes before Week 1.
Lance made just four NFL starts and eight appearances before the 49ers traded him. That makes the No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft still a relatively unknown quantity, and it sounds like the Cowboys are hoping to change that this offseason.
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