Trade proposal lands Trey Lance in Miami as Tua Tagovailoa insurance

With the NFL trade deadline — which will be on Nov. 5 — less than one month away, CBS Sports proposed a Miami Dolphins trade that has them acquiring quarterback Trey Lance so the team has “insurance” behind Tua Tagovailoa at the position.

“Tua Tagovailoa is apparently on track to return to the field this season, despite some medical experts suggesting his concussion history should prompt retirement consideration,” Cody Benjamin wrote. “Since when has Miami succeeded at putting all its eggs in the Tua basket, however? Lance remains a project, but he flashed his first-round athleticism under Mike McDaniel in San Francisco, and Dallas has kept him strapped to the bench. He’d make for a low-risk, high-upside rental as added Tagovailoa insurance.”

It’s of note that Benjamin proposed a trade which would send Lance — who currently plays for the Dallas Cowboys — to the Dolphins in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick.

As Benjamin mentioned, Lance has connections to Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. Daniel was the San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator during the 2021 season, when the 24-year-old totaled 603 passing yards and five passing touchdowns compared to two interceptions.

Lance’s current team in the Cowboys has also had little use for him so far in the 2024 regular season. He has yet to play for Dallas since the beginning of the campaign, and Dak Prescott has started all six of the squad’s contests to this point.

The former North Dakota State University star would likely have more opportunities to see if the turf this season if he were traded to the Dolphins than if he remained in Dallas.

While Tagovailoa will be eligible to play in Miami’s matchup against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 27, that doesn’t mean it is set in stone that he will take the field on that date. McDaniel gave a somewhat vague injury update on the 26-year-old Monday, considering he conveyed optimism that Tagovailoa will play again this season but didn’t provide an exact timetable for his return.

Tyler Huntley has admirably filled in for Tagovailoa at the signal-caller spot of late, but Lance probably has more untapped potential. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft after all.

It seems as if trading for Lance would be a low-risk, high-reward move for a Dolphins team that could benefit from some additional depth at the all-important quarterback position. The clock is ticking for Miami if the team wants to acquire him prior to next month’s deadline, however.