https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.jsBy most accounts, Trey Lance is not off to the start he was hoping for in Cowboys training camp. He’s struggled to deliver the ball with anticipation, he’s floated passes on a regular basis, and he’s misread coverage, leading to frustrating interceptions. Perhaps Dallas will look to change their approach with him.
These struggles are by no means a departure from the norm for Lance. The former No. 3 overall pick has struggled to live up to his draft status since joining the NFL four years ago. Acquired in a late summer trade with the 49ers last season, Lance has largely been developing in the background in both San Francisco and Dallas.
Over the past few months, the Cowboys decided to rebuild the 24-year-old from the ground up. After declining his fifth-year option for 2025, they have been dedicated to seeing what they have in the young signal caller before further commitments were made. Lance has already taken a high number of snaps as a back-up in camp, giving fans their first clear view of him since joining the squad almost a year ago. The results aren’t very inspiring.
Trey Lance throws it right to Markquese Bell: pic.twitter.com/5oSAoGf66z
— Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) July 31, 2024
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Lance looks like a player who doesn’t have much experience. With only a handful of games under his belt in the NFL and just one full season of action in college, Lance is far rawer than the average fourth-year veteran. He has a physical skillset that says franchise passer but the kind of experience that makes a back-up job a stretch.
It should be no surprise he’s struggled executing in the Cowboys’ relatively sophisticated offense. While Kyle Shanahan’s attack in San Francisco is based on play design, movement, and misdirection, Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys offense is more about pre-snap reads and progressions. Dak Prescott, one of the NFL’s very best in these two aspects of the game, operates the system flawlessly. Lance, not so much.
But instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, what if the Cowboys try to provide a square hole?
Willie Harvey Jr. intercepts Trey Lance. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/0wT8a1u6H8
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) July 31, 2024
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Unless he’s thrown into fire for a season or two, Lance will likely never fully grasp the quarterback position on the Cowboys. He needs seasoning and the Cowboys just don’t have the required seasoning to give. Tweaking the system, on the other hand, could make things easier on the young greenhorn.
By adding more read-options and run-pass options, they can simplify the decision-making process for Lance. It will shrink the field and make things more instinctual for Lance.
Trey Lance pic.twitter.com/sfkboEuqg4
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) July 31, 2024
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At 6-foot-4, 226-pounds, Lance is big enough to handle a more physical role at QB. He’s not a burner but he’s more than capable of being a dual threat as a read-option QB. A traditional RPO system, which asks the QB either to hand off or pass to a specific downfield option, wouldn’t even require him to be a runner. It’s a one-read attack that puts defenses in conflict. These systems are somewhat gimmicky, but they are popular alternatives for a reason.
For the final two reps of practice today, the Cowboys let Trey Lance work in with the first team.
He had one scramble for 6-7 yards, and one completion to the far side on those two reps. pic.twitter.com/gwgvmsDmZE
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) July 30, 2024
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Since most colleges use a degree of zone-read and RPO in their playbooks, the supportive players on the Cowboys roster wouldn’t have much of a problem adapting to a tweaked playbook for Lance’s snaps. Plenty of NFL teams alter their offense to fit the strengths of their respective passer, so this wouldn’t be any different.
It’s hard to look at Lance practice these days and think he’ll ever be a good option at QB for Dallas. Cooper Rush seems head and shoulders above him at QB2 and unless something changes in the scheme, that’s something that’s likely to continue.
An RPO-heavy scheme with read-option mixed in could be just what the doctor ordered for Lance. It wouldn’t take major effort to incorporate in a simple form and would better play to Lance’s strengths while masking his weaknesses.