‘I had a big smile’ – Trey Lance on Cowboys trade

To be clear, Trey Lance is not inexperienced with the travel to North Texas. As a quarterback for North Dakota State in 2020, he faced up against James Madison in the 2020 FCS Championship Game, where he won both the hardware and the MVP award before moving on to the San Francisco 49ers and, now, the Dallas Cowboys.

He also trains in Fort Worth throughout the offseason, so his arrival with the Cowboys feels like fate, albeit he will have to adjust to the Texas heat as well as offensive setup.

“It definitely helps,” Lance said of his knowledge of the Metroplex. “This summer, I got a taste of the heat. It was nothing what I had expected.”

Speaking of the unexpected, the transaction itself fits into that category, having sprung out of nowhere and materialized swiftly once the Cowboys and 49ers got on the phone, the former refusing to allow the latter off the line until Lance was headed to Dallas in return for a fourth-round choice.

After suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 3 of the 2022 season, which necessitated a further treatment later in the year, the 23-year-old is now “100 percent” healthy. He is eager to get started and put in as much extra effort as head coach Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys will want of him, which will be a lot.

That burden will include learning as much as possible from Dak Prescott.

“He welcomed me with open arms,” Lance recalled of the two-time Pro Bowler. “… It meant a great deal to me. This business is insane, yet I’m not looking forward to it at all. I’m just trying to take each day as it comes. This person has played at a top level for a long time, so he definitely deserves and receives a lot of respect from everyone in the league.

“I’m just trying to learn everything I possibly can from him.”

Lance, a two-time national champion and former Walter Payton and Jerry Rice Award winner, enters the quarterbacks room with Prescott and incumbent backup Cooper Rush with his eyes and mind wide open.

“First and foremost, I’ve got to learn how to help anyone in the [QB] room and anyone on offense,” he added. “That’s really what I’m focused on: learning enough to be able to contribute.”

Needless to say, Lance was disappointed when it was revealed that the 49ers would go with Sam Darnold as an immediate backup to Brock Purdy, but after some time to process the decision, Lance came to terms with it and simply waited to see what the next stage of his NFL career would look like.

Spoiler alert: he appears to be dressed in a Cowboys uniform.

“I really tried not to expect anything one way or another, but I can say that when I heard it was the Cowboys, I had a big smile on my face,” Lance remarked. “I’m very happy to be here….” Everything happens for a purpose, in my opinion. I feel I’m here for a reason, and whatever that reason is, I’m here to try to help this squad.”

He’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so in the coming months as he attempts to rebuild his football brand after things went wrong in California.