How will Dallas Cowboys develop No. 3 QB Trey Lance during the season with limited reps?
Cowboys newly-acquired quarterback Trey Lance arrived in Dallas on Sunday and went through his physical.
He spent all day Monday at the team’s headquarters working with the coaches to get up to speed on the offense, coach Mike McCarthy said.
It’s been a hectic few days since the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick to the 49ers for Lance on Friday.
They had their final preseason game on Saturday and are now in the process of trimming the roster from 89 to 53 before Tuesday’s 3 p.m. deadline, in addition to game planning for the Sept. 10 season opener against the New York Giants.
“Just trying to get time with him,” McCarthy said. “There’s a lot going on today, tomorrow as far as personnel meetings and game planning for the Giants, so it’s pretty hectic up here but he’s he’s been here all day.”
It’s busy now and it’s unlikely to slow down any time soon.
McCarthy said quarterback coach Scott Tolzien will be primarily responsible for working with Lance. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and McCarthy will also be be involved.
“We’ll all try to get as much time with him as we can outside of our normal work schedule,” McCarthy said.
And even that will be limited during the NFL season.
So how will the Cowboys be able to find time to develop a young quarterback who needs as much time and attention as anyone?
Lance is still just 23 years old and worth investing in.
McCarthy harkened back on his evaluation of Lance leading up to the 2021 NFL Draft, when the 49ers traded three first-round picks to move up from 12th to 3rd to acquire him.
“His athletic definitely something that jumped off,” McCarthy said. “I thought he was a young intriguing prospect.”
Lance is still that. But his inexperience and lack of playing time was a question when he came out of college at North Dakota State and it will is.
He also had only 17 starts in three years in college with 318 career pass attempts and had just four starts the past two seasons with the 49ers with 102 pass attempts
Add in the fact that it reps are hard to come by during the regular season the back up quarterback, let alone the third quarterback, with most of the focus on the starter getting ready for coming game.
How will the Cowboys be able to develop him in 2023?
“You just do the best we can,” McCarthy said. We have young player meetings for all our young players, three times a week. We do things in the post practice segments to work with our young players. He’ll be a big part of that and then any other time that’s available.”
It’s a plan.
But will it be enough?
