What Could Quarterback Austin Davis Bring To The Dallas Cowboys?

202 miles separate AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, from the city of Austin, TX. 202 miles is 1,066,560 feet. If you’ll allow me to put that in proper football terms for you – that’s 355,530 yards.

That’s the amount of yards Tony Romo is going to throw when his adamantium body is ready to go he makes his triumphant return to the Dallas Cowboys, but in the mean time America’s Team needs some insurance for their Star QuarterDAK.

The City of Austin might be 202 miles away from the Cowboys Brain Trust, but they’re looking at bringing in an Austin for that wee bit ‘o insurance. In the hit tv show Friday Night Lights there was once an insurance salesman from Austin so this is obviously fate.

If you listened to @CowboysBreak this morning I said "No" to a question asked about Austin Davis – was wrong. Team workout on Wednesday.

— BryanBroaddus (@BryanBroaddus) August 30, 2016

Who Is Austin Davis?

Should the Dallas Cowboys sign Austin he would be, counting Kellen Moore who was recently placed on Injured Reserve, the fifth signal-caller to be employed by the club. What’s amazing about this is that four of the five (Romo, Moore, Showers, and Austin should he sign) all went undrafted. 4/5! 80%! What!

Yes, Davis went undrafted out of Southern Mississippi in 2012. Yes, Southern Mississippi is where Brett Favre went to school. No, the rumors about the Cowboys bringing Favre in to back up Dak Prescott are not true.

Austin originally latched on to the St. Louis Rams before getting the boot from them and making the Miami Dolphins Practice Squad. He’d have a second stint with St. Louis, which is when he really got cooking.

After his second Rams stint Davis signed on with Cleveland, where he’s been since being waived on Monday. Will Dallas be next?

What Exactly Does Austin Davis Bring To The Cowboys?

Look, I’m always honest with you guys. You know that I call a spade a spade.

That being said, Austin Davis does not bring an enormously impressive skill set. The best thing that can be said about his quarterback-ing is that he’s at the NFL level. He doesn’t make big throws downfield, usually reverting to a checkdown. Considering the checkdown options in Dallas (Zeke, Alfred Morris aka The Butler, Cole Beasley, Jason Witten, etc.) that might not be such a bad thing.

Cowboys Nation was subjected to the continual checkdowns from the likes of Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel in 2015, but the checkdown talent is far superior just a season later. Should Davis sign, and play hypothetically, and revert to the same style of play it would likely yield far better results this time around. Keep in mind that this is not at all a result of any talent that Davis brings to the table, but the surrounding variables.

In looking at Austin Davis’ track record I noticed something particularly interesting that certainly qualifies as valuable as far as what he brings to this table – experience. I’m not talking about the generic type of experience that all veteran players have, I’m talking about legit stuff here! Hear me out.

Austin Davis has thrown for over 200 yards seven times in his career:

Austin Davis +200-Yard Games	Completions	Attempts	Yards	TDs	INTs	Result
*9/14/14 @ TB	22	29	235	0	0	W
*9/21/14 v. DAL	30	42	327	3	2	L
*10/5/14 @ PHI	29	49	375	3	0	L
*10/13/14 v. SF	21	42	236	1	1	L
*22/9/14 @ ARI	17	30	216	1	2	L
^12/6/15 v. CIN	25	38	230	0	1	L
^1/3/16 v. PIT	24	46	240	0	2	L

*St. Louis Rams, ^Cleveland Browns

What’s interesting about this, class? Does anybody know? Bueller?

Is it really sad interesting that six of these seven, not to mention the last six in a row, are losses? Sure, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. I’ll give you one more try.

Any guesses? Seriously? Fine I’ll tell ya.

Austin Davis has thrown for over 200 yards, a relatively simple mark of success, seven times in the last two seasons. Five of those opponents (Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh) are all teams that the Cowboys play this year. Considering that Philly is a division rival that group in total allots for 6/16 games… 38%.

What’s even more interesting is the games in the first half of the Cowboys season. Why? Well it’s been widely speculated that that’s exactly how long Tony Romo will miss. Among the first Cowboys eight opponents are San Francisco, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Cleveland (who Davis was just waived by). Add this all up and you come to the conclusion that Austin Davis has a fair amount of knowledge and experience over the past two seasons with 50% of the teams that the Cowboys will play in the first half of the season.

So what can Austin Davis bring to the Cowboys? Great mechanics and pocket awareness? In all honesty, not to a degree that’s going to drastically improve their quarterback situation behind Dak Prescott.

What Austin Davis could bring is a brain full of knowledge that can potentially be of extreme value to the Dallas Cowboys. That’s smart business, just ask Austin who majored in business at Southern Miss (they should really call that degree plan BusMiss).

Boo-ya.

What do YOU think Austin Davis would bring to the Dallas Cowboys? Let us know! Comment below, Email me at RJ@RJOchoaShow.com, or Tweet to me at @RJOchoa!