Dak Prescott or Trey Lance? Part II: Best-case scenario for the Cowboys

The conversation around quarterbacks marches on for the Cowboys.

To extend or not to extend, that is the question. Are the Dallas Cowboys going to re-sign Dak Prescott, who is the face of this franchise, or has the front office decided that a new, more affordable face is preferred?

This dilemma has been the topic of many conversations as fans and media outlets repeatedly express how poorly the front office has handled this situation. At least that is what people believe now, but we don’t know how this story ends. Yesterday, we examined the worst-case scenarios for this ongoing quarterback fiasco, and today we’ll flip that frown upside down and see if we can manifest a happier ending.

SECOND BEST CASE – Re-sign Dak, trade Trey for draft capital

In this hypothetical scenario, it turns out all this uncertainty about Prescott’s future in Dallas was just posturing. The Joneses did their best to Hollywood it and make it seem like moving on from Prescott was a real possibility. Even after the nightmare they went through during the post-Aikman era, they somehow convinced Cowboys Nation that a reset at the quarterback position was something they were considering. Suckers!

And to Dak’s credit, he sold the other side of it quite well with his “let’s see what the season holds” and “we’ll go from there” pity speech suggesting that whatever happens, he’ll somehow persevere. With nearly $200 million in career earnings after his contract expires and a ridiculous payday that should get him close to a career total of half a billion after his next contract, it’s hard to feel too sorry for him. That’s because Prescott is that guy. The Joneses know it, his agent Todd France knows it, and most Cowboys fans know it. Moving on from Prescott was never going to happen.

It’s only fitting that in a world that Jerry created, the Cowboys end this contract saga in dramatic fashion. They lock Prescott down with an extension a week before the start of the regular season. Just like before, it will appear the Cowboys overpaid dearly by dragging things out and will be criticized dearly, but just like before, they actually don’t. His price was always his price, and it will again look like a bargain in subsequent seasons (see sarcastic Tweet below).

The Lance experiment is not all for naught. He flashes enough in preseason and limited garbage time action to where another team is willing to part with a 2025 second-round pick to acquire his services at the trade deadline. In the end, the Cowboys flipped a 2024 fourth-rounder for a second-rounder a year later, gaining some extra draft capital while having a good backup quarterback available for half a season.

BEST CASE SCENARIO – Move on from Dak, Lance emerges as a rising star QB

We warned readers yesterday to brace yourself for the worst-case example, but for this one, you might want to buckle up because you’re going for a ride.

Open up your imaginations and entertain the notion that this Trey Lance fella turned out to be really good. Third-overall draft stock means nothing years later if you can’t produce, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was drafted high because of what he could become. He only started one season at North Dakota State in 2019 and played in only one game in 2020 because the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While he looked incredible in the one season he played, he entered the NFL incredibly raw.

The Cowboys are taking their time with him and love what they see. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that he turns into a great NFL quarterback. If he has a great camp and looks sharp in the preseason, then what? And suppose a small injury sidelines Prescott to start the season and Lance demonstrates that he drives this offense quite well.

This is what they call “a good problem to have.” Lance is 23 right now, the same age Prescott was when he unexpectedly took over as the Cowboys starting quarterback in 2016. The Cowboys took a gamble on a quarterback who cost them a fourth-round pick once before, could they do it again?

As much as some fans don’t want to hear this, Lance turning out to be great is the best possible thing for the Cowboys. They could re-sign him for considerably less than what Prescott would cost them. If the front office wants more pie to serve other positions on the roster, there you have it.

Similar to the worst-case scenario, we could see a little QB controversy with this one, only in this more upbeat plot, Prescott agrees to waive his no-trade clause, and a blockbuster trade is made. If the Lions can get two first-round picks out of a 33-year-old Matthew Stafford, why can’t the Cowboys? In this storybook scenario, the Cowboys get a rising star quarterback seven years younger and two future first-round draft picks. And while this story has many chapters unwritten, maybe there’s a chapter down the road where this new quarterback does something we haven’t seen in almost three decades, elevating his play come playoff time.