Nothing went according to plan for Jerry Jones in the 2024 NFL season. With Dak Prescott suffering a season-ending injury early in the campaign, the Dallas Cowboys finished third in the NFC East with a 7-10 record, which wasn’t good enough to clinch a playoff berth.
Last year, the team had to lean on Cooper Rush with Prescott on the sidelines. Trey Lance also got to see the field, but it didn’t change much. Therefore, the Cowboys‘ front office might make a big decision to be prepared for similar scenarios in the future.
Jones‘ eldest son Stephen, who is the executive vice president, CEO, and director of player personnel for the Cowboys, recently revealed that Dallas will be looking to select a quarterback in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
“You know, I think one of our goals is to get a young quarterback in the draft,” Jones said, via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t know where that’s going to be. That’s why we gave a [fourth-round pick] for Trey. It seems like all the quarterbacks, even guys we have in the fourth round, go in the first. They always go so much higher than what you think.”
Stephen Jones of the Dallas Cowboys looks on prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium on December 22, 2024 in Arlington, Texas.
How many draft picks do the Cowboys have in 2025?
Their poor performance in the 2024 NFL season saw the Cowboys secure the 12th overall pick in April’s Draft, where they’ll also have second (44th overall), third, fifth, and sixth round picks.
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This year’s class of quarterbacks looks stacked, but chances are that, unless they use their first-rounder to get one of them, those names will be picked before the Cowboys have a chance to do so.
The Cowboys have already made a long-term commitment by handing Prescott a four-year, $240 million contract extension in 2024, making him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. But with the star signal-caller turning 32 in July, having a rookie in the QB room to learn from him could be useful in the future.
Stephen Jones admits Cooper Rush, Trey Lance may not return to Cowboys
Both Rush and Lance will be free agents this offseason, and Stephen Jones’ recent comments suggest that their future might be outside Dallas. Jones claims that, while the Cowboys still like Rush, the 31-year-old may not return as they “don’t know what he’s going to cost” this summer.
“Unfortunately, we do have to go cheap,” explained Jones, who also doesn’t expect Lance to be back in 2025 as the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback is “probably going to be looking for something different.”
Cooper Rush and Trey Lance’s history in Dallas
Rush, 31, has pretty much spent his entire career in Dallas, a team he joined as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He spent a few months with the New York Giants in 2020 but ended up returning to the Cowboys after Prescott suffered an injury.
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Lance, 24, entered the NFL with high expectations around him as the Niners traded up to select him third-overall in 2021. He sat behind Jimmy Garoppolo in his rookie year, but when the 49ers promoted him in his second year, an early injury ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign. Brock Purdy did well during his absence, and he never got another chance.
The Cowboys got him for a fourth-round pick in 2023, and he had to settle with being the third-string QB behind Prescott and Rush. Not even Dak’s injury in 2024 let Lance get significant playing time.
