This is a huge year for Trey Lance.
It's the one offseason that the Cowboys really have to
figure out
who he is as a quarterback.
Well, Mike McCarthy talked about the plan to do that.
Let's get to it. Here we go.
What is up everyone, and welcome into ADC Sports Dallas
Prime Time.
I'm your host, Mauricio Rodriguez,
streaming with you live every Sunday and Thursday night at
8:00 PM Central and catching up with the guys in
between.
With these quick hitting videos,
Trey lands really and truthfully one of the most intriguing
storylines of the
2024 NFL offseason. And with OTA is kicking off,
it really begins to feel like
this is the time of the year that we'll begin
to find out a little bit more about him.
Because I've said this before,
the Cowboys can go on the mic on a radio
station or they can go and do it in the
press conferences and they can talk about how excited they
are about Trey Lance. But truthfully,
they have barely seen him.
Because when you're going to get the bulk of a
quarterbacks evaluation when he is not starting,
it's going to happen in the offseason.
And the Cowboys traded for Trey Lands when the preseason
was almost over.
He didn't see any action in August on game day,
when there was garbage time during the season,
he didn't see any action.
It was all Cooper Rush because he was always the
inactive emergency quarterback.
So really, and we talked about this with Joe.
We talked about this when Joe Hoyt joined the show
earlier this offseason from Lone Star Live.
It really is all about
what he did in pregame,
honestly, because you know how practices go during the regular
season.
The rhythm is so fast and it's all about the
starters because it's all about the game plan that you're
installing to beat that opponent.
That week. Time is always pressing.
There's always some urgency. When Trey Lance really had a
chance to get some work in was when he took
the field before pregame warmups with quarterbacks coach Scott Tulsi
and that's when that development happened.
It all happened behind the scenes.
I really don't know. How much
could it concern Mike McCarthy when he has,
when he's dealing with the
urgency of getting his team ready for a game day
and calling the game himself.
So honestly, this is the real year when the Cowboys
are going to get to evaluate.
Trey lands at a deeper level because you've got the
full offseason to work with them,
right? There's going to be OTA,
mandatory mini camp, training camp,
and then the critical part that will
be the offseason, the preseason,
excuse me, But before we get to all of those
details,
this is what Mike McCarthy had to say about Trey
Lance and I'll read to you his quotes from today's
pressures,
he said. There are thresholds in development stages for every
position and quarterback is no different.
Trey is no different. He had prior experience in San
Francisco,
so that's an experience he'll always be able to draw
from.
We are involved in a different offense and the position
is played differently for every quarterback in in every organization.
Now this part is crucial because of Scott Toldson also
talked to reporters last week or two weeks ago.
I cannot remember exactly when this was,
but you can see the clip on the Cowboys YouTube
and Scott told CN. Talked about the drop backs,
right? Obviously with Mike McCarthy taking over the offense,
there's been a heavier emphasis
on footwork for the quarterback.
And you guys know this.
Like we use West Coast and
Eric Coriel and all of these terms very loosely in
NFL media,
let's admit it. But what it really means when you
have this strong,
strong West Coast philosophy is that that footwork has to
be on point Dak Prescott.
Last year he talked about how it made him play
quarterback different.
And for those of you who are unfamiliar with it,
the big thing about the West Coast,
when he took over the NFL many,
many, many years ago with Bill Walsh,
it was the fact that the
the steps of the quarterback took were tied together with
those of the receiver,
right? Like that was a really
innovation aspect of the West Coast.
And obviously now you see it in every offense really.
But it's a heavier emphasis when Mike McCarthy is calling
the place.
That is something that Trey Lance definitely did not do
when he was at college and he didn't do much
of that either when he was with San Francisco or
at least not in the same way that he's doing
it in Dallas.
So talking a little bit more about the development of
Trey lands,
Mike McCarthy also made a very interesting comment when he
said,
you know, been very, very pleased.
Again, I take that with a grain of salt because
really,
how much has he been able to develop?
My Trey lands when the option is only getting started
for him,
but he did say his athletic ability is top notch.
Not a secret. That's when that's why he went number
three overall.
We all know about that rocker arm that he has.
We all know about how he can be a dual
threat quarterback because of his legs.
We know that. But still pretty cool to see Mike
McCarthy acknowledge that his athletic ability is top notch.
This was a part that really caught my eye though.
We've adjusted some things in his motion and I don't
want to get into specifics,
but you can see the improvement in timing.
So again, McCarthy doesn't really get into the specifics,
but I still really like the fact that we got
to hear that they've adjusted some things in his motion
in his throwing mechanics because you know about the quarterback
school. If if we look at the Trey Lance trade,
it's difficult to get on board with it just because
of the fact that
we wished the Cowboys would have had a four rounder
in this year's draft.
We will have some questions about the fact that he's
due
$5.3 million in 2024 and if you want to keep
him beyond this season,
you're going to have to pay him.
And if you do pay Dak Prescott,
how viable is it to pay the two quarterbacks in
the 1st place?
Because you know there will be a market for Trey
Lands if he hits free agency in
2025. There absolutely will be.
It's not like he's going to get
minimum money in 2025. I really don't think so.
There are many desperate teams out there that are going
to keep that from happening.
Remember when what was the name of these Chicago Bears
QB that it got paid?
Was it Glennon? Man, do you remember that contract?
Was it? Was it Mike Glennon who got paid?
Yeah, 3,000,000, three-year contract, $45 million.
Man, teams are desperate out there in the NFL.
So you know exactly what I mean.
Now,
although we feel like this about the trade for Trey
Lance,
the part of that that makes me kind of like
it is the fact that I do believe Mike McCarthy
is one of those QB gurus in the
NFLI do believe that McCarthy can
help lead a rebuild of who Trey Lance is as
a quarterback.
We saw him work with Joe Montana when he was
at Kansas City.
We saw him work with Aaron Rodgers and really rework
his mechanics and we see it every year,
even with the Cowboys. How he puts a very heavy
emphasis on the whole quarterback school dynamic,
which is a portion of practice where they just talk
about fundamentals and work about in fundamentals of the position.
We've seen that Prescott really improved when Mike McCarthy became
the man of the offense and we saw him and
put together his best season in the NFL.
Now I'm not sure it was about him reworking
all of Dax techniques, but he got better,
at least with the footwork element of it.
So I am excited about that.
The plan though, the plan moving forward for Trey Lance
is perhaps
one of the big takeaways from today's pressers is,
McCarthy said. Young quarterbacks need reps and we're trying to
get him as many reps as we can throughout these
offseason program,
McCarthy added. He will take a large part of the
preseason and that's the design.
him and I talked about preseason quite often because that's
what we're building towards.
This might not seem like much,
but I do have many questions that arise from this.
So Trey Lands is going to get it the big
chunk of the offseason.
We knew that Cooper Rush.
I don't think he can control
if he stays on the roster or not.
I don't think it's up to how
Cooper Rush plays in 2024,
how he fares. I think the Cowboys know exactly what
they've got in Rush,
which is a high IQ player that is well versed
in the Cowboys offense that's been in the system for
a few years now.
Because even with McCarthy running the show,
there are a lot of similarities with what was run
under Kellen Moore. So the Cowboys know what they've got
on that front.
They don't want Cooper Rush,
though.
You're not paying $5.3 million for Trey Lance
thinking that
he will be QB three.
The Cowboys want this to work out with Trey Lance,
which should be obvious, but
I think Cooper Rush has
no impact in whether or not
he remains QB Two. I think it's all about Trey
Lance,
and I think it's pretty much a yes or no
question of does Trey Lance suck or stink it up
in the
2024 offseason slash preseason? If the answer is no,
if he just doesn't stink it up,
then Trey Lance is going to be the guy,
I believe, behind Dak Prescott.
If he does, if it's a major disappointment,
then Cooper Rush might stick around as QB 2.
Otherwise, I think he's demoted either to QB 3 or
maybe even demoted to the practice squad or just straight
up cut and out of the organization.
We'll see what decision is on that front when we
get there,
but I like the openness as well from Mike McCarthy
talking about how this is the prison is going to
be Trey Lance's show.
I don't think any of us are surprised to
hear that. You're surprised to hear that.
But what I do wonder about is
what does that mean for his supporting cast when that
preseason comes around?
Because if you want to truly evaluate Trey Lance and
if it's August and Dak Prescott remains unsigned beyond this
season,
does that mean,
I mean, Tyler Guyden is going to take the field
regardless,
right? Because you want to develop him and the same
goes for Cooper Beebe.
But does that mean Tyler is Smith and Zach Martin
and Terrence Steele are out there playing in August?
Does that mean maybe not CD Lamb,
but maybe Brandon Cooks
is out there playing preseason football.
Jake Ferguson is out there playing preseason football.
What supporting cast do the Cowboys give Trey Lance when
he's out there in an exhibition game,
which will go a long way in evaluating where he
is at right now?
I'm very intrigued by that.
I do think we could see a change in the
Cowboys preseason plans just because they want to get a
closer look at Trey Lance and it's going to be
easier to do that instead of with an offensive line
made-up of Matt.
Well, let's go Chuma Doga
and no knock on Brock Hoffman or TJ Boss,
but it's just not going to be the same as
if you run it with your starting offensive line,
right? Which by the way needs
those reps as well, at least at two critical positions
like left tackle and center.
So we'll see how it all plays out,
but I do think the Cowboys revealed a little bit
about their plan to develop Trey Lance.
It's going to be the Trey Lance show from here
on to
August. Really. And then in September
it will all be about that Prescott.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen,
hit the like button for me.
If you enjoyed the show,
let me know what you think about the Trey Land
situation in the comments and I will see you
tomorrow. Bye bye. Live show by the way,
Thursday night, 8:00 PM Central.
Bye, bye.