Cowboys' decision to trade with 49ers for Trey Lance looks worse now than ever

Jerry Jones stated he doesn't see Trey Lance starting for the Cowboys amid their struggles, which has to make the 49ers laugh as hard as ever.

The San Francisco 49ers can be faulted again and again for aggressively reaching on quarterback Trey Lance in the 2021 NFL Draft.

But, at least the Niners can be granted some respite for pulling the plug on the failed experiment early in 2023 by trading him to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round draft pick.

Who won that trade? San Francisco. Hands down. And then some.

Sure, the near entirety of the 2021 quarterback class was a bust, and the 49ers commanded the biggest return for a traded signal-caller out of that group, while the Cowboys were aiming to find insurance for their franchise starter, Dak Prescott.

At 3-7, and with Prescott out for the rest of the year with a serious hamstring injury, Dallas is going nowhere fast. This was highlighted by 34-10 Week 11 thrashing at AT&T Stadium at the hands of the Houston Texans, a game in which head coach Mike McCarthy handed backup quarterback Cooper Rush the starting gig.

One might have thought Prescott's injury would open the door for Lance to get another shot. After all, Rush is, well... Rush. A career backup. Nothing more.

Instead, McCarthy kept Rush in the game and had him attempt 55 passes while getting sacked five times.

"I think the one thing I should have done at the end, and I just didn’t do, was put Trey in there," McCarthy admitted after the game, via Pro Football Talk. "I could’ve gotten him a series."

Unfortunately for Lance, it doesn't appear as if the Cowboys will be shaking things up under center going forward.

Jerry Jones all but says Cowboys won't start Trey Lance

McCarthy, riding his own hot seat in Dallas, probably isn't calling too many shots these days. And while the proactive thing might be to at least see what Lance has to offer over a prolonged period of time, given where the Cowboys are at in the standings and playoff picture.

According to owner and general manager Jerry Jones, though, Lance is going to remain Rush's backup.

"I don’t know about that," Jones responded when asked about Lance starting, via PFT. "I want to give our team the very best chance it can — in all phases — to be successful. So, we’re going to go here with the quarterback that gives us the best chance to win the game."

This ultimately sounds like Dallas has seen enough from Lance, who wasn't overly promising in training camp or the preseason and has taken the field for a mere six pass attempts in one blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this season.

While the Cowboys echoed what the Niners previously said about Lance merely needing reps, the former squad isn't planning on giving them to him.

Probably laughable.

San Francisco can laugh, too, albeit for different reasons. How it managed to swindle a fourth-round pick out of Dallas for Lance is quite crazy to think about.

Sure, it won't absolve the 49ers for the original investment. But it will at least provide a great deal of solace.