The Miami Dolphins are married to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for at least the next few seasons. Miami gave Tagovailoa an extension in the off-season that pays him handsomely , and guarantees he will be the team’s starter for the foreseeable future. The team believes they’re in their Super Bowl window, and are making moves to try and keep that window open as long as possible.
Nothing closes the window on an NFL season like losing your starting quarterback. While Miami has their starting quarterback situation settled, the backup quarterback is a far different story. Miami has Skylar Thompson and Mike White battling it out in training camp and the preseason to secure the backup job and a roster spot. But what if the front office isn’t comfortable with either of them? Neither performed particularly well in the first preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons . Could Miami look to make a trade to bring in a backup? If so, who?
One NFL analyst has linked the Miami Dolphins to a quarterback from the Dallas Cowboys . No, not that one. Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports recently identified several veterans who could be on the trading block this season, and some potential landing spots for each. This is where Benjamin linked current Cowboys and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance to the Dolphins.
Lance was once a highly-touted NFL prospect, coming into the 2021 NFL Draft as a redshirt-sophomore from the University of North Dakota. That season the 49ers made Lance the third overall pick, with the idea that he would come in and start right away, giving them a young, athletic face of the franchise. Injuries and some guy named Brock Purdy had different ideas, and the rest is history, as they say.
Lance never stuck with the 49ers, and was eventually traded to the Cowboys. He has failed to garner any playing time with the Cowboys, either, and may be on his way out there, soon, too. Dallas declined to pick up Lance’s fifth-year option, so he’ll be an impending free agent after the season.
The question is ‘how much value does Lance still have’? If he’s traded from the Cowboys, it’ll be his third team in four seasons, without holding down the starting job for long – or at all – at either of his previous stops. Injuries played a significant role in his unceremonious exit from the 49ers, and one has to wonder how much of Lance’s athletic ability those injuries sapped from him.
On the other hand, Lance is still athletic, and is just 24 years old. Lance wasn’t ready for the NFL when he entered the draft, but he was so young that he’s still younger than some prospects who were drafted this past year. That may entice a team like the Dolphins to throw the Cowboys a late Day 3 pick in order to take a swing on being able to “fix” Lance.
Lance is unlikely to ever be a consistent starter in the NFL, but his skill set could lend itself well to Mike McDaniel’s offense and could make him a good candidate to serve as Tagovailoa’s backup in 2024 – and maybe beyond.
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