The Dynasty Fantasy Football Impact of the Trey Lance trade to Dallas

Ken Kelly Posted On August 26, 2023

The Trey Lance era in San Francisco is unbelievably over before it started. Back in 2021, the 49ers traded the 12th overall pick in that year’s draft (which eventually turned into Micah Parsons), along with two future first-round choices and a third-round pick in 2022 to the Miami Dolphins to move up to get the rights to the North Dakota State quarterback and make him their franchise’s savior. Just two years later, San Francisco has thrown in the towel on Lance, given the helm to a former seventh-round pick and admitted their trade was one of the worst in franchise (and NFL) history. The experiment culminated in the trade of Lance to the Dallas Cowboys for just a fourth-round pick in next year’s draft. The move has a dramatic effect in dynasty leagues, so let’s reshape the landscape for the players whose values are involved.

Trey Lance, QB DAL

Wow. Lance tore up the lower levels of college football in his time at North Dakota State, culminating in a 2019 season that featured 2,786 passing yards, 1,100 rushing yards, 42 total touchdowns and ZERO interceptions. He played in only one game in the 2021 “COVID-19 season,” then entered the league with an enormous amount of hope based on an amazing athletic skill-set. Unfortunately, injuries have kept him off the field for all but eight games in his career and he wasn’t overly impressive in those he played in, either. Combine that with the fact Brock Purdy came in and led the 49ers to the NFC Championship game last year and the realization he was severely outplayed by journeyman Sam Darnold this preseason and his fate was ultimately sealed.

Now in Dallas, Lance has a new lease on life. He should compete with Cooper Rush to be the immediate backup to Dak Prescott and likely bounce Will Grier off the roster. The challenge for Lance is the fact the Cowboys have little invested in him and aren’t even guaranteed to pick up his fifth-year option. Still, if Lance shows flashes of the ability we saw in college or if Dak Prescott gets injured or underperforms, this could get really interesting. Regardless, Lance’s ADP and dynasty value are going to take a nose dive with this development. While he still has a lot of potential, that same potential is on the clock as Dallas could give up on him a lot more easily than San Francisco could. It’s time for him to get healthy and develop before his NFL career gets put on life support. Hold on to him for how but the clock is ticking.

Dak Prescott, QB DAL

It’s time for Prescott to return to form. After a solid post-injury season in 2021, Prescott was far from elite last season as he recorded just 2,860 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 12 games. Dallas has assembled a team capable of competing to win a Super Bowl, Jerry Jones isn’t getting any younger, Mike McCarthy is on the hot seat and now Dallas has traded for someone who once had as much potential as anyone in the league. The Cowboys have an out on his contract coming up and 2025 and 2026 are void years as well. In short, Dallas has a big-time decision coming. Do they re-commit to Prescott and give him another long-term deal or move on? While Prescott’s immediate future as the starter isn’t in doubt, the Dallas fan base is losing patience and this just became a huge season for him. It would be more than fair to drop him a couple of spots on your dynasty rankings as a result. It’s DEFCON1 in Dallas and the D stands for Dak.

Brock Purdy, QB SF

Any questions? After being thrown to wolves last year because of a multitude of injuries, Purdy was awesome, throwing for 1,374 yards, 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions in nine games. It’s fair to wonder if the 49ers would have actually won the Super Bowl if he had been able to play in the NFC Championship game against the Eagles. Regardless, his 67.1% completion rate and ability to galvanize a locker room have won over the team and it’s his job now. Dynasty owners who are saying, “Yeah, but he was a seventh round pick,” need to simply get over it. He’s won the job, the 49ers have given up on a player they sold the farm on, and now it’s his time to take the next step. After trading Lance, it’s clear Purdy is going to have a long runway to be successful.

Sam Darnold, QB SF

Don’t sleep on Darnold, who is now one injury away from being the starter on a team with more talent than he’s ever had in his life. While his career has not gone to plan, he’s also never really been in a great place to be successful. Kyle Shanahan would certainly provide that. While Purdy is going to have every chance to take this job and run with it, Darnold will be waiting in the wings. He’s certainly a player to re-consider in Superflex leagues and a likely deep stash again in conventional leagues as well.

Cooper Rush, QB DAL

If there’s another loser here outside of Lance, it’s clearly Rush. While he performed well last year, Dallas would likely want to see what they had in Lance should Prescott miss a lot of time. As a result, it’s hard to justify keeping Rush on shallow rosters.

Wow. Just wow.

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Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK