The Dallas Cowboys will be rolling with what they’ve got in house, it appears.
Franchise quarterback Dak Prescott fractured his thumb Sunday and is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks after getting it surgically repaired. Prescott won’t be going on injured reserve, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told “Shan and RJ” on Tuesday, a promising development after initial reports suggested a 6-to-8-week recovery.
Still, losing a starting quarterback for four-plus games isn’t ideal, and the Cowboys could pursue a few external options. The 49ers were trying like mad this offseason to trade Jimmy Garoppolo, so theoretically he might still be an option. Cam Newton also is a free agent, one might think he could be on the radar.
But Jones said that right now, the team is confident with Cooper Rush and Will Grier.
“The people that are ready to play quarterback for us are the ones that played all preseason: Cooper Rush and Grier,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “They had a real competition, Grier got slowed there right at the end with a hamstring issue, but he should be through that now. So, we’ve gotten a lot of good snaps for those guys, both in our practice sessions as well as all the preseason games for the most part.
“Those guys know the offense well, have had a lot of reps in it, and consequently give us our best shot. It’s unlikely since we don’t have any potential trade pending – not pending, but in the mill — it’s unlikely that you’d have a veteran quarterback that could get back in here and be ready to play as well as those guys can play, even if you thought you might have a talent advantage.”
Jones’ point is a fair one. If the Cowboys know that Prescott’s time out might be on the shorter side, it might not make sense to get rid of an asset via trade when it is going to take them time to fully get up to speed on the playbook.
And on the free agent front, no option available, including Newton, represents such a massive upgrade that it’s worth the headaches that could stem from the lack of familiarity of the system.
Rush and Grier might be imperfect, but they’ve got the institutional knowledge no one else presumably available has, and that seems to be enough for Jones to offset their shortcomings.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram