Los Angeles acquired wide receiver Lance Rentzel from Dallas…
Los Angeles acquired wide receiver Lance Rentzel from Dallas on May 19, 1971 for tight end Billy Truax and wide receiver Wendell Tucker. Rentzel started all 28 Rams games in 1971 and 1972, catching 65 passes for 899 yards and six touchdowns over those two seasons, then returned as a reserve in 1974. Truax gave Dallas useful tight-end service, while Tucker never appeared in a Cowboys regular-season game.
Dallas Cowboys Received
- player Billy Truax
- player Wendell Tucker
Los Angeles Rams Received
- player Lance Rentzel
Trade Analysis
The legacy TradeVerdicts row had the player package right but assigned the second team to an invalid multi-team Chargers placeholder. Contemporary reporting and the Cowboys' 1971 media guide identify the actual exchange: Dallas sent Lance Rentzel to the Los Angeles Rams on May 19, 1971 for tight end Billy Truax and wide receiver Wendell Tucker. The team identity, date, canonical key and perspective data are corrected to Dallas Cowboys, and no Chargers team belongs in this transaction. Los Angeles received the most sustained on-field return. NFL records show Rentzel starting all 14 Rams games in 1971 and all 14 again in 1972. He caught 38 passes for 534 yards and five touchdowns in 1971, then 27 for 365 yards and one touchdown in 1972. After missing 1973, he returned in 1974 and added 18 receptions for 396 yards and another touchdown as a reserve. Across his Rams tenure he appeared in 42 regular-season games, started 28 and produced 83 catches for 1,295 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. Dallas did receive real value from Truax. The Cowboys' 1971 roster lists him as a 10-game starter, and NFL career data credits him with 12 games, 15 catches, 232 yards and one touchdown that season. He added six games and four catches for 49 yards in 1972 and two more games in 1973. That is 20 regular-season games and meaningful depth for a championship-era Dallas roster, even though his production declined sharply after the first year. Tucker did not add a second stream of value. His NFL career statistics end with the Rams in 1970, and contemporary transaction histories record Dallas releasing him before the 1971 regular season. In realized football value, Los Angeles therefore received an immediate starting receiver for two full seasons plus a productive reserve year, while Dallas received one useful season and limited later service from Truax with no regular-season contribution from Tucker. TradeVerdicts grades the Rams B+ and Dallas C+ and records a Los Angeles Rams win. Confidence is high because the contemporary report, Cowboys media guide and independent NFL player records agree on the terms and the realized production.