Cowboys' Trey Lance trade somehow got worse during the bye week

What exactly was the Dallas Cowboys' plan when they traded for Trey Lance? It has now been 14 months since Lance arrived in Dallas and with each month that passes it looks increasingly likely that the Cowboys set their 2024 fourth-round pick ablaze.

What little value Lance had was lost when Dak Prescott signed a four-year, $240 million extension hours before the start of the season.

The Cowboys made the obvious decision to decline Lance's fifth-year option. However, he is still making $5.31 million this season as part of the fully guaranteed $34.1 million contract he signed with the 49ers as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft.

The trade has aged like milk that was left out in the sun, and it somehow managed to get worse during the Cowboys' bye week.

The player the 49ers drafted with that fourth-round pick - safety Malik Mustapha - has emerged as a key cog in San Francisco's defense and he had himself a breakout game against the Chiefs on Sunday, albeit in a losing effort.

Malik Mustapha is making Cowboys' Trey Lance trade look even worse

While the 49ers lost, Mustapha led the way with 12 tackles. He was on the receiving end of a lethal Patrick Mahomes truck stick, but Mustapha put himself on the national map with his performance against the two-time defending champs.

Starting for the injured Tanaloa Hufanga, the Wake Forest product took the form of a heat-seeking missile on Sunday. He set the tone for a physical defensive game with a highlight-reel tackle in the first quarter when he flew downhill from the third level to shut down a running play.

Mustapha was not in the frame until the last second. There are few plays in football prettier than a safety that shoots out of a cannon to sniff out running plays. Cowboys fans have hardly seen that this season from starting safeties Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker.

Mustapha had another textbook stop in the second quarter on an end-around to speedy Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy. It was a coming out party for the 22-year-old.

Meanwhile in Dallas, Lance couldn't beat out Cooper Rush for the backup job. He's the emergency third-string quarterback so he is essentially stealing money. In case you didn't know, Lance's $5.31 million cap hit is eighth-highest on the team. It's more than Jourdan Lewis, Tyler Smith and Eric Kendricks, to name a few players.

That is entirely on the front office for thinking it outsmarted the league by trading for Lance. Whether they intended to flip Lance for another pick or thought it gave them leverage over Prescott during contract talks, it's been an utter disaster.

Mustapha blossoming into a stud in year one just pours salt into the wound.

More Cowboys news and analysis