The Detroit Lions signed Quarterback David Blough from their practice squad to their official roster this week, and apparently the Dallas Cowboys are the reason why. It’s been reported that Dallas attempted to poach the second-year QB and forced the Lions to make this move to retain him.
Blough was an undrafted free agent coming out of Purdue in 2019 and originally signed with the Cleveland Browns, but was then traded to Detroit just before the start of the regular season.
Injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel forced the rookie into action last year as he started five games for the Lions. Detroit went 0-5 in those games and Blough only had a 64.0 passer rating, completing just 54% of his passes and throwing four touchdowns to six interceptions.
Blough didn’t make the 53-man roster in 2020 but at least stuck around on the practice squad. And clearly, Detroit still valued him enough that they didn’t let the Cowboys sign him away.
Dallas, still reeling from the loss of Dak Prescott and making roster adjustments, already signed one QB to their roster this week in veteran Garrett Gilbert. That was on Monday, so this news on Blough shows that the Cowboys are still clearly assessing options.
Andy Dalton has received every vote of confidence possible from his coaches and Cowboys executives over the last week and is obviously the best starting option going forward. So these other moves are more about the depth chart and the tragic possibility that Dallas might lose Dalton as well.
The Cowboys do still have rookie Ben DiNucci on their roster as well. We can’t really interpret yet if the addition of Gilbert, or any other attempts to add QB talent, are a sign that the team isn’t high on DiNucci or are just exploring all opportunities.
The threat of injury is always an issue but COVID-19 makes it all the more imperative to have quarterbacks ready to play in your system. Dallas already added one this week and tried to snag another. We’ll see if that trend continues as the season progresses.
