Trey Lance was probably rooting for Dak Prescott to follow CeeDee Lamb's lead and holdout of training camp until he signs a new contract. In that scenario, Lance would have been given the lion's share of practice reps with the first-team offense alongside incumbent backup Cooper Rush.
In an elite display of leadership, Prescott is present at camp and practicing in full capacity. That doesn't mean Lance will spectate from the sidelines in Oxnard, however.
Throughout the offseason, Mike McCarthy has ensured that Lance will get all of the reps he can handle both during camp and preseason. Desperate to perform after the Cowboys declined his fifth-year option, Lance got off to a less-than-promising start in Thursday's opening practice.
The following clip (h/t Jon Machota of The Athletic) shows Lance getting picked off by linebacker Jason Johnson. In Lance's defense, his pass hit Deuce Vaughn in the hands and popped into the air. However, Lance telegraphed the throw and Vaughn was decked as the ball arrived.
Trey Lance is already throwing interceptions at Cowboys training camp
Let's be clear: Vaughn absolutely should have caught that. On the periphery of the running back room after a disappointing rookie year, Vaughn can ill-afford to make mistakes of this magnitude. This drop will not help Vaughn got more reps at wide receiver after he rotated there in OTAs and minicamp.
With that said, Lance should have got the ball out much quicker. His slow release allowed the linebackers time to collapse and swarm Vaughn to cause the turnover. Had Lance snapped the pass with more vigor, Vaughn likely would have reeled it in before he got hit. It's a minor detail, but that is the difference between a completed pass and a turnover at this level.
It can also be argued that Lance didn't make a great read. Former UFL linebacker Willie Harvey Jr. sniffed out the checkdown the whole way. There was zero pass rush on the play. It would have been nice to see Lance go through his progressions. Maybe his receivers were blanketed, but it looked as though Lance didn't give them enough time to get open.
Lance obviously shouldn't be careless with the football, but there's a difference between being careless and being timid. He personified the latter and that isn't going to help him supplant Rush as Prescott's backup. Rush already does the fundamentals well. Lance needs to show his upside.
At the end of the day, it's only the first practice of camp. Nobody expected Lance to come out slinging the pigskin all over the field. He didn't play a single snap in 2023, so it might take a couple days for that to come. Hopefully the 24-year-old is just shaking off the cobwebs after a long offseason.
