The Dallas Cowboys might not be able to resuscitate their playoff chances in 2024, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to salvage from the season. Dallas sits at 3-6 and will watch the rest of the league play their Week 11 games before they get a chance to take the field. While there’s still plenty of action left in the season, the Cowboys are likely playing for draft positioning, not playoff positioning.

But playing out the string can benefit individual players. Dallas has a ton of free agents who could be auditioning for either a new coaching staff in Dallas or a new franchise outside of the DFW. That includes quarterback Trey Lance. Sooner or later, the coaching staff is going to give Lance a shot at starting, though it won’t be in Week 11. But when he does, one outlet has confidence he’s going to play pretty well.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon identified the fifth-year quarterback as someone on the verge of making a name for himself in the writer’s 5 Bold Predictions for the rest of the 2024 season. Gagnon thinks Lance will take the opportunity afforded with Dak Prescott’s pending surgery, and run with it all the way to a lucrative contract in the offseason.

Right place, right time. The Cowboys have lost Dak Prescott for the remainder of the year, and Cooper Rush has been so bad that Trey Lance is bound to get some serious work down the stretch.

Surrounded by plenty of talent, look for the skilled 24-year-old to put on some shows just as his contract expires.

I’m not saying he’ll salvage his career, but the 2021 No. 3 pick is in the ideal environment to fire up some teams that might be desperate enough to believe he could be a late-blooming answer.

At the very least, Lance will do enough to earn a Sam Darnold-like top-tier backup contract as an insurance policy somewhere.

A Sam Darnold like deal would net Lance around $10 million on a one-year contract to prove himself; that’s what the former Jet was provided to be the backup in Minnesota to a rookie QB. JJ McCarthy was lost for the year to injury and Darnold stepped in and has led the Vikings into the playoff picture, surprising many.

If Lance has that in him, then he will probably lose the Cowboys some draft slot positioning and earn them a 2026 compensatory pick.