4 Cowboys Who Will Be Cut by the End of October

2. Trey Lance, QB

The Cowboys acquired quarterback Trey Lance from the San Francisco 49ers back in August 2023. Even though the former third-overall pick didn't play a single snap with the franchise last season, that didn't stop owner/general manager Jerry Jones from keeping him around for another season.

Expectations were low for Lance this offseason, making it easy for him to exceed them during the preseason. The former North Dakota State QB led the NFL exhibition slate in both passing and rushing yards, indicating that he might be ready to reach the next level.

With Prescott's future in Dallas up in the air, many people thought that it was finally time to promote Lance to the QB2 role. Instead, that hasn't been the case. Cooper Rush is still Prescott's primary backup through four weeks while Lance is still stuck as the emergency signal-caller.

If the Cowboys viewed Lance as a viable QB option, chances are he'd already be seeing bigger opportunities — especially since he's a pending free agent. But that isn't the case and it's hard to see his situation changing unless there's an injury.

Assuming the Cowboys want to make a trade deadline smash, cutting Lance would help a lot. Dallas would save $5.3 million by ridding themselves of a contract that they likely never should've kept in the first place. Besides, Prescott and Rush have proven that they can hold down the QB room without him.