Getty The Vikings were interested in trading for Cowboys QB Trey Lance.
An NFC rival discussed the idea of trading for a Dallas Cowboys quarterback.
As reported by Diana Russini of The Athletic on Saturday, November 4, the Minnesota Vikings held a “brief discussion” about trading for Trey Lance prior to the trade deadline on October 31. The discussion came shortly after starting quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.
However, the team ultimately never engaged in active trade talks with the Cowboys about a possible trade for Lance and instead flipped a sixth-round draft pick for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Dobbs.
“They discussed internally what move would make the most sense, from a brief discussion about perhaps calling the Dallas Cowboys to trade for Trey Lance to a conversation with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers about signing John Wolford off their practice squad,” writes Russini. “Ultimately, the team decided to pursue a trade with Arizona for quarterback Joshua Dobbs. The Vikings had one rule in adding a quarterback: Minimize the impact on their team-building beyond 2023. Enter Dobbs for only a sixth-round pick.”
Vikings Were Previously Interested in Trading for Trey Lance
We’ll probably never get an answer on whether or not the Cowboys would have shown interest in trading Lance to the Vikings. It’s worth noting that this is not the first time Minnesota showed interest in acquiring Lance via trade. The Vikings previously showed interest in trading for Lance during the Scouting Combine, according to a report from Mike Florio of NBC Sports.
However, by the time the San Francisco 49ers traded Lance to the Cowboys in late August, the Vikings were no longer interested. That tune obviously changed once Cousins suffered his season-ending injury.
Why Cowboys Trading Trey Lance Was Always Unlikely
It’s worth mentioning that Dallas acquired Lance for a fourth-round draft pick. Considering the Cowboys acquired Lance with the idea he’d project as a long-term backup and insurance plan for Prescott, it would probably take a whole more than a fourth-round pick to acquire Lance from Dallas, as Mike Fisher of Sports Illustrated notes.
“What would the Cowboys’ asking have been? That will we likely never know … maybe not until another opportunity like this presents itself,” writes Fisher. “At the same time, Dallas has reason to value Lance beyond just using him to ‘flip” him. Among those: Development of him as a player that might make him a long-term asset as Dak Prescott’s backup – or maybe something even more than that.”
Lance is currently slotted as the No. 3 quarterback behind Prescott and Cooper Rush and has yet to take a single snap this season. However, the Cowboys have done nothing but heap praise on the former No. 3 overall draft pick since his acquisition.
Via Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News:
“Very hard working,” head coach Mike McCarthy said of Lance back in August. “We have a quarterback meeting room area. He’s pretty much kind of taken it over. The grease boards look like ‘[A] Beautiful Mind.’ …We just need to work on the extra things, particularly in the area of footwork.”
With the trade deadline having passed, the Cowboys won’t be trading Lance anytime soon. But it’ll be interesting to see if the Vikings resume their interest in the young quarterback by the time the offseason rolls around.