Trade Pitch Lands Bears Former No. 3 Pick as Backup to Caleb Williams

Getty Caleb Williams set Bears Nation on fire a few days ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

The Chicago Bears are potentially in the market for a backup quarterback, and finding one with skills that mirror those of No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams in at least one or two important ways makes sense from a continuity standpoint.

Chicago could try and create such an opportunity by making an inquiry with the Dallas Cowboys, who have officially decided not to exercise the fifth-year option on QB Trey Lance’s rookie contract.

“That decision was essentially made in August when the Cowboys acquired Lance from the San Francisco 49ers for a 2024 fourth-round pick,” Todd Archer of ESPN reported on Wednesday, May 1. “Had the Cowboys picked up the option, it would have cost $22.4 million, been fully guaranteed and been at odds with the club’s stated preference of keeping Dak Prescott after 2024. As it stands, the Cowboys do not have a quarterback on their roster signed beyond this season, with Prescott, Lance and Cooper Rush set to hit unrestricted free agency in March.”

The trade price for Lance wouldn’t likely cost more than the fourth-round pick Dallas sent to San Francisco for the QB last summer, considering he hasn’t played since then.

A late-round selection, perhaps somewhere on Day 3, would potentially be worth the price to the Bears to bring in a talented young backup behind Williams. As of Thursday, Chicago owned the rights to eight picks in the 2025 draft, including three in the sixth round.

Current quarterbacks on the Bears’ roster behind Williams include Tyson Bagent and Brett Rypien, who are a combined 4-4 as starters in the NFL across five total seasons between them. Chicago also signed quarterback Austin Reed, formerly of Western Kentucky, as an undrafted free agent earlier this week.

Trey Lance Still Has Value After Injury Derailed Career in 2022

GettyFormer Dallas Cowboys quarterback Trey Lance.

If the Cowboys and Prescott do end up reaching a long-term agreement, Lance’s presence in Dallas feels superfluous.

The fourth-year QB has dealt with unfortunate timing and a lack of true opportunities throughout his career, and figures to seek a chance to prove himself/compete for a starting job somewhere when he hits free agency in 2025. As such, the Cowboys may be willing to entertain the right kind of trade offer for Lance this summer so as to get something in return for a player who is still an asset based on his age (he turns just 24 years old later this month) and untapped potential.

The 49ers traded three first-round picks and a third-rounder to the Miami Dolphins to move up in the 2021 draft from No. 12 and select Lance 3rd overall. He played in just eight games for San Francisco, starting four of those (2-2) and amassing 797 passing yards, 5 TDs and 3 INTs. He also rushed the ball 54 times for 235 yards and a score, per Pro Football Reference.

The 49ers brought Lance along slowly during his rookie year, most of which he played behind starter Jimmy Garoppolo. The team bumped Lance into a starting role in 2022, though he suffered a devastating lower-leg injury in Week 2 that knocked him out for the rest of the year. Former seventh-round pick Brock Purdy eventually stepped in and two deep playoff runs later, Lance was out of the Bay Area and looking for a fresh start in Dallas.

Trey Lance Battled Limited Playing Time for Variety of Reasons Over Several Years

GettyFormer San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance.

Lance doesn’t have the arm talent that Williams does, nor did he have the same collegiate experience or accolades coming into the NFL — Williams won the Heisman Trophy in 2022, while Lance threw just 318 passes across his tenure at North Dakota State University (Carson Wentz’s alma mater), which the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted.

That said, Lance is a skilled playmaker who can use his legs to his advantage, much like Williams. And while Williams is adept at making creative plays on the fly after the initial call breaks down, draft analysts lauded Lance for his pre-snap football IQ coming into the league.

“He’s a rare dual-threat quarterback in that he’s tasked with setting his own protections and reading the full field,” Lance Zierlein of NFL.com wrote in 2021. “Coaches rave about his football IQ and film work.”

There is truly no telling what Lance’s career might look like if he’d never gone down with injury. His teams haven’t afforded Lance the chance to take a snap in nearly three full years, largely because Purdy and Prescott have pinned him lower on the depth chart. Both of those quarterbacks contended for the MVP of the league in 2023, before Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens ultimately won the award for the second time.