With offseason training activities and minicamps coming to a close, now begins the wait for July 27th and the first day of training camp practice in Oxnard, California for the Dallas Cowboys. In my nearly 20 years following the Dallas Cowboys, this is the deepest and most talented roster I can remember the Cowboys taking to training camp.
Of course, there are areas of weakness, especially when you compare them to other position groups. Unfortunately, there isn’t always a simple fix to said area of weakness. If you’re looking for one area of complaint, you could point to backup quarterback.
Cooper Rush and Mike White have a combined three regular-season attempts between the two of them. I wouldn’t hold that against them though, because the reason they only have three attempts between them — and really it’s just Cooper Rush has three attempts — is because Dak Prescott has been such a durable quarterback that those other guys aren’t getting into games.
The only time Cooper Rush has appeared in a game was during lopsided wins against the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2018 and a blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017.
The reports coming out of OTAs and minicamp are that Cooper Rush and Mike White haven’t had very good practices. Reports of interceptions have a portion of Cowboys Nation concerned about the quarterback position after their franchise quarterback.
Those reports can offer some insight into how things are going, but they should hardly be taken completely at face value. Remember what Allen Iverson said, “We talkin’ bout practice.” Just like we shouldn’t get too hyped about what Dorance Armstrong or Dak Prescott are doing in practice, we shouldn’t overreact to some bad practices by your backup quarterbacks. Remember, they’re largely throwing to guys who are undrafted free agents and are likely to be released when the team trims their roster to 53.
So much of where the concern about the backup quarterback position comes from is because of the recent history this team has had with losing its starting quarterback to injury. Tony Romo missed games in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. That’s six out of 11 seasons where he was the starting quarterback heading into training camp in which he missed at least one game in a season.
Dak Prescott hasn’t missed a start since his sophomore season at Mississippi State in 2013. That’s five straight seasons between college and the NFL that Dak Prescott has been available for his team. In 2013, he was splitting snaps with the Bulldogs senior quarterback, but since 2013, has been available for 88 of his team’s 90 games. Dak’s started 51 straight games for the Dallas Cowboys in three seasons and has the strength and durability to continue to do just that.
Dak Prescott isn’t Tony Romo. According to DallasCowboys.com, Dak Prescott measures at 6-2, 238 pounds. That’s huge for an NFL quarterback. Romo was 6-2, 230. Romo, however, never looked as strong or thick as Dak Prescott. He always looked more slender playing the quarterback position and his durability was a concern. So far in Dak’s career, durability hasn’t been an issue, therefore the quarterback position is less of an issue.
The recent history of 2015, when Tony Romo went down and the season went with it, has many leery of going into a season with unproven commodities. But in that 2015 season, they had “proven” commodities at the quarterback position and those players went 2-11 in the starts that Tony Romo missed.
The free agent quarterback market doesn’t look all that enticing at this point in the offseason. And that should be obvious. Any quarterback worth signing is already on a team. What you’re left with is a who’s who of bad quarterback options that wouldn’t give you much more confidence than Rush or White.
- Matt Cassel – Been there, done that.
- Brandon Weeden – See above.
- Mark Sanchez – See Above.
- Brock Osweiler – Miami, Denver, and Houston did that, chose to go another direction.
- Derek Anderson – not a terrible option, but not necessarily better than what you have.
- Josh Johnson – Pass.
- Geno Smith – The New York Giants didn’t want him. Very Hard Pass.
There isn’t a free agent quarterback that makes sense. They’re either old descending quarterbacks or young retreads that have been through a few different organizations and haven’t been able to find a landing spot. Let’s get into training camp and the preseason and see what Mike White and Cooper Rush do in a game-like situation before making a definitive evaluation.
With Kellen Moore and Jon Kitna as Dak Prescott’s main coaching influences in 2019, there’s no need for a veteran backup quarterback to “mentor” Prescott at this point in his career. Moore was always considered a very smart player that was viewed as a future coach. Kitna was one of the better backup quarterback options during his career and has spent time coaching in the high school ranks. Dak couldn’t have two better guys in his ear during the week or on gameday. A veteran quarterback doesn’t really add anything to what these two already bring.
The Cowboys are content to see how the backup quarterback battle plays out between Mike White and Cooper Rush. Let these guys get as many snaps as they can in training camp and the preseason and if, for some reason, neither guy steps up and you feel like you need to add a veteran, then go grab Mark Sanchez since he knows the offense and has a good relationship with Dak Prescott.
