Cowboys Benched Cooper Rush for Trey Lance with $500K Contract Incentive on the Line

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush would have received $500,000 in incentives if he played 55 percent of the team's offensive snaps this season. However, that won't happen after Dallas benched Rush for Trey Lance on Sunday against the Washington Commanders.

Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports provided more information on Rush:

Justin DeSales of The Dallas Express also offered more insight.

"Dallas has averaged roughly 68 offensive snaps per game this season and could likely reach this number against Washington if the game gets out of hand, which would be beneficial for Rush if the team opted to start him over Lance, per Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"Participating in every snap in this game, assuming the team reaches exactly 68 snaps, would result in Rush playing in 55.1% of the Cowboys' snaps this season and reaching the minimum number for his incentive.

"Rather than reward him for the effort this season with the opportunity to reach his goal, the team is opting to give Lance significantly more play time and effectively deny Rush's incentives."

Rush played 12 games and started eight after Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons.

Lance, the former No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, joined the Cowboys via trade from the San Francisco 49ers in Aug. 2023. He didn't get any playing time last year and has only thrown seven passes in mop-up duty at the end of two blowouts this season.

Lance also remains a mystery after sitting his rookie season for veteran Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021. He became the QB1 in 2022 but suffered a season-ending ankle injury in his second game. In the latter portion of the season, San Francisco turned to Brock Purdy, who has remained the team's QB1 ever since.

Overall, Lance has thrown just 109 passes and rushed 59 times in four years, so it makes sense to give him a full game and see what the team has in him.

However, this decision also looks cold on the surface given Rush's contract incentives. It's also a bit puzzling considering that Dallas has been out of the playoff picture for three Sundays now, but Lance only saw enough playing time for one pass and one rush in a 41-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday.

Rush kept Dallas respectable after Prescott went down, with the team going 4-4 in his starts. For the season, he completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 1,844 yards and 12 touchdowns (just five interceptions). Dallas also had a good stretch where the team won four of five games, including an impressive road win against the 11-victory Washington Commanders, 34-26.

So Rush certainly helped Dallas from seeing its season completely collapse down the stretch as it hopes for brighter days in the future. In theory, the Cowboys could still pay the incentive as an act of good will and thanks for Rush's services this year. But that incentive won't be triggered via the snap count percentage after Dallas opted to roll with Lance.