Is Trey Lance impacting Cowboys' handling of Dak Prescott situation?

For a mailbag published on Tuesday, Nick Eatman and Kurt Daniels of the Dallas Cowboys' website addressed whether the club having young quarterback Trey Lance on the roster is impacting the fact that starting signal-caller Dak Prescott remains on track to reach free agency after the upcoming season.

"I'm sure the Cowboys would never say it that way," Eatman wrote. "But I think there's some truth to that ... I think they're waiting on a few things regarding Dak, and one of them could be Lance and how he plays. The other is probably Dak, and how this season goes. So if they don't feel the need to get it done before we start camp, then I could see this playing out into the regular season and maybe all the way until the end."

The Cowboys acquired Lance from the San Francisco 49ers for a 2024 fourth-round draft pick in late August of last year and essentially stashed him on their bench for a redshirt campaign. Lance turned only 24-years-old this past May and has thus far attempted just 102 NFL regular-season passes.

While the third pick of the 2021 NFL Draft remains a work in progress, it's somewhat concerning he hasn't yet cemented himself as Dallas' full-time QB2 ahead of Cooper Rush.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys cannot retain Prescott's rights for 2025 via the franchise tag per the terms of his existing deal.

"There's really no way to see what they truly have in Lance without it affecting Prescott somehow, meaning the Cowboys may not have the luxury of 'waiting to see,'" Daniels wrote. "Their hand could be forced where they have to pick one or the other and live with it. Hope for the best with the cheaper option, or pay the hefty salary of a top-10 quarterback. It seems an impossible situation, and makes you wonder if they now regret giving up that fourth-round pick to acquire Lance."

Dallas declined the fifth-year option for 2025 attached to Lance's rookie contract earlier this spring, and there's no indication he'll see the field for meaningful action through at least this coming November as long as Prescott is healthy. As for Prescott's next deal, it likely will become even more expensive once Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers inks a massive extension this summer, as expected.

NFL Media's Bucky Brooks recently suggested the Cowboys "have thrown around the idea of" Lance eventually replacing Prescott. Neither Eatman nor Daniels poured cold water over Brooks' take, but this is probably a "nothing to see here" topic until Lance receives an opportunity to face an opposing defense when Dallas opens the preseason at the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 11.