Trey Lance will start at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in their Week 18 season finale against the Washington Commanders, reports Jane Slater of the NFL Network.
Lance, 24, will make his first start for the Cowboys since the team acquired him from the San Francisco 49ers before last season. He has appeared in three games, completing 5 of 7 passes for 22 yards. Team owner Jerry Jones seemed to indicate that this move was possible when neither he nor head coach Mike McCarthy would name the owner for week 18.
Cooper Rush has started the previous eight games for Dallas, taking over after Dak Prescott suffered a hamstring injury in Week 9 that required season-ending surgery. In his eight games (and 12 games total), Rush threw for 1,844 yards, 12 touchdowns, and five interceptions, completing 60.7% of his passes.
Starting Lance could prevent Rush win a $500,000 incentive that would come with playing 55% of the Cowboys’ snaps this season. He has currently participated in 52.3% of the team’s plays and needs 65 plays to reach that incentive. according to Pro Football Talk. Rush had already earned a $250,000 bonus by playing 45% of Dallas’ snaps.
Lance was the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft for the North Dakota State 49ers, where he threw for 2,947 yards and 30 touchdowns, while also rushing for 1,325 yards and 18 scores in three seasons. However, he only played in 17 games, making him a very raw commodity entering the NFL, as well as playing at the FCS level of college football.
He eventually won the starting job over Jimmy Garoppolo during the 2022 season, but only played two games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2. That gave Brock Purdy the opportunity to beat out Lance for the starter. in training camp for 2023. Lance entered the season as the 49ers’ third-string quarterback and was traded to the Cowboys for a fourth-round pick.
Both Lance and Rush will be unrestricted free agents after the season.