ARLINGTON, Texas -- Despite starting longtime backup Cooper Rush in every game since quarterback Dak Prescott's season-ending injury (hamstring tear in Week 9 at the Falcons), the Dallas Cowboys are making a change.
Trey Lance, the 2021 third overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, will be the Cowboys' starting quarterback for the team's Week 18 season finale against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, according to the NFL Network.
Lance playing means Rush won't hit his full play-time incentive for the 2024 season. CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported on Thursday that Rush will earn $500,000 in incentives if he plays 55% of the team's snaps in 2024. Entering Week 18, he's played 52.5% of the Cowboys' offensive snaps. If he played at least 65 snaps, that would have likely been good enough to get him his $500,000. But with Lance starting and playing the entire first half, that won't happen.
Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy was all in on starting Rush when the team was still in contention to make the playoffs. The Cowboys went 4-4 in Rush's eight starts since Week 10, and he completed 61.3% of his passes while averaging 209.6 passing yards per game. Rush's 11-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio since Week 10 is tied for 17th in the NFL with MVP candidate Josh Allen, but his passer rating in this stretch is just 86.6, 25th among the league's 32 qualified quarterbacks in this span.
Rush, 31, and Lance, 24, are both set to be free agents in March, and the Cowboys traded a 2023 fourth-round pick to acquire Lance ahead of their 2023 preseason finale.
"He's [Lance] been doing the right things," McCarthy said, via All City Dallas, pregame on 105.3 The Fan on Sunday. "If I didn't think he was ready for this or prepared for this in way and it would keep us from the opportunity to win the game, then we wouldn't be making this decision."
Lance has completed five of his seven passes this season for 22 yards and an interception while rushing for 15 yards on five carries in mop-up duty. The last time Lance received a real chance to play was Dallas' preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers. He threw for 323 passing yards, a passing touchdown and five interceptions while completing 33 of his 49 passes. Lance also rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown -- a 46-yard read-option sprint -- on 11 carries.
"Yeah, a lot," Lance said Wednesday of how much he's learned since the preseason finale in August. "Honestly, any time you turn the ball over that many times, it's easier to smile talking about it now than it was going back four months ago or whatever it was. Yeah, I learned a ton from it. Made mistakes, learned from them. Some good things, some bad things that's how it goes."
The 24-year-old sees himself as capable of being an NFL starting quarterback, and McCarthy does too, at least for Dallas' final game of the 2024 season.
"Yeah absolutely, no doubt," Lance said of his confidence in being an NFL starting QB. ... "I think if you don't think that about yourself, then you got no chance, and I truly believe that in my heart. I feel like it's just where you draw your confidence from, what you have your faith in. I feel like I've worked to get to this point, and I'm not going to stop until that opportunity comes, and I'm able to make the most of it."
