There’s an old saying that if a team has two quarterbacks, it has none, meaning if there’s no go-to-guy, then what’s the point?
The investment the Dallas Cowboys have made in their quarterback room certainly reflects this mindset with Dak Prescott, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year, in the second season of his four-year, $160 million contract. Conversely, backup quarterback Cooper Rush, who has one career start, is on a one-year, $395,800 contract and wasn’t on the team’s active roster until a day before their 19-3 Sunday night defeat in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The three points scored in the Cowboys’ season-opening loss was their fewest in a home game since 2002, and also the fewest in a season opener since 1989 — Troy Aikman’s rookie season in which the team went 1-15. Furthermore, the Cowboys were the only team to not score a touchdown in the NFL‘s opening week.
However, following Prescott’s thumb injury, which he suffered in the fourth quarter of that loss, and the subsequent surgery on his right hand that he uses to grip and throw a football, Dallas has oozed confidence, from the front office on down to the players, in turning over its offense to Rush for Week 2 against Joe Burrow and the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals.
Dak will be back
Part of the Cowboys’ confidence this week stems from an organizational belief that Prescott could return sooner than his initially reported timeline of Week 8 or Week 10. That thought process led to Dallas owner and czar Jerry Jones to declare there are no trade discussions in process to acquire a seasoned fill-in for Prescott. That includes 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who has led his team to a Super Bowl appearance and is now the backup for Trey Lance, who San Francisco drafted No. 3 overall in 2021. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday if the Cowboys called to inquire about Garoppolo, who recently signed a one-year deal, that “just like all players, we’ll listen to anybody on anything.”
“The people who are ready to play quarterback for us are the ones who played for us all the preseason, Cooper Rush and [Will] Grier,” Jones said on his weekly Tuesday radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan. “We got a lot of snaps for both of those guys in practice sessions and preseason games, a lot of familiarity with the offense. … We don’t have any trade pending or in the mill,…
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