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The Dallas Cowboys declined the fifth-year team option that would have paid backup quarterback Trey Lance $22.4 million guaranteed in 2025.

Lance is the QB2 behind Dak Prescott, who enters the final season of a four-year contract that disqualifies the Cowboys from using the franchise tag to retain him next spring.

The Cowboys, who insist they will bring back Prescott with a new contract stretching beyond the upcoming season, acquired Lance from the San Francisco 49ers in August 2023 for a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft.

Lance is not changing teams this summer but will switch numbers, claiming No. 19 and allowing returning running back Ezekiel Elliott to wear No. 15.

Dallas owed Lance, the third overall pick in the 2021 draft, a total of $6.5 million in salary and bonuses for two seasons (2023, 2024).

The designated starter for the 49ers in 2022, Lance fractured his ankle and set in motion the chain of events that led to then seventh-round rookie Brock Purdy taking over and engineering a playoff run to the NFC Championship Game.

Lance has appeared in eight games with four starts since being selected out of North Dakota State in a largely displaced QB draft class topped by Trevor Lawrence (first overall, Jaguars) and Zach Wilson (No. 2, Jets). Wilson was shipped to the Denver Broncos before the draft. Fellow ’21 first-rounders Justin Fields (11th, Bears) and Mac Jones (15th, Patriots) were also traded this offseason.

–Field Level Media