Cowboys Suddenly Have Perfect Trade Opportunity After Major Preseason Injury

The Dallas Cowboys have an interesting dilemma at one of the most important positions on the football field – quarterback. Dallas has yet to play starter Dak Prescott who is entering the final year of a four-year extension he signed in 2021.

In addition to Prescott’s contract situation, the Cowboys are looking to see if Trey Lance can win the QB2 job in preseason, or if the former first-round pick loses out to veteran Cooper Rush. 

In a perfect world, Dallas would like to see Lance win the backup job, in case they can’t reach a long-term contract with Prescott. 

However, if the Cowboys have plans on keeping Prescott for the future and Lance plays well in the preseason, Dallas should consider trading the young quarterback to a quarterback-needy team.

Since we are still in the early stages of the preseason, there aren’t that many QB-needy teams. But one team might be looking to add to its quarterback after seeing one of their signal-callers go down for the season.

On Wednesday, Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy was ruled out for the 2024 season after undergoing a full meniscus repair. With McCarthy done for the season, Minny’s QB situation is as follows: Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall.

Darnold is locked in as the starter, but it's been a few seasons since he was a full-time starting QB in the league. Meanwhile, Mullens is a journeyman backup quarterback with limitations and Hall is still young in his career.

Nonetheless, if Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is looking for a young signal-caller with a first-round pedigree, then Lance might be worth taking a flier on. The former-first round pick is still very young in his career as he’s only attempted 102 passes.

However, his athleticism and ability to be a plus-one in the running games, would make the Vikings’ offense much more dynamic than it would be with Darnold or McCarthy. The Cowboys and the rest of the NFL saw Lance’s rushing ability on full display in last week’s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

The 24-year-old quarterback scanned the field before stepping up in the pocket and taking off for a first down.

Lance completed 25-of-41 passes for 188 yards and led Dallas with 44 rushing yards. With the league favoring more dual-threat quarterbacks, Dallas could potentially get an early Day 3 pick in return for the former North Dakota State star. Or if a draft pick doesn’t work, maybe Dallas can acquire a player at a position of need on the 53-man roster.

That said, these are all hypotheticals at the moment because the Vikings might be comfortable sticking with their three QBs and Dallas might want to continue to develop Lance. However, it's the NFL and things can change at the drop of a dime.

More Cowboys news and analysis: