The Dallas Cowboys thought they were set at the backup quarterback position with Kellen Moore, but an unfortunate injury now has the organization examining all their options for the right player to back up Tony Romo in 2016.
The Cowboys tried to bring in Nick Foles, but he decided to rejoin an Andy Reid coached team in the Kansas City Chiefs. They then tried to work out a trade with the Cleveland Browns for veteran quarterback Josh McCown, but the Browns were wanting an arm and a leg in return.
With the failure to bring in their top two choices, the Dallas Cowboys decided to see what they have in Jameill Showers and Dak Prescott. But don’t for a second think that they are not looking at all of the options outside of the organization.
In fact, I think they’re going to let Showers and Prescott play the first two preseason games and then possibly look at adding a veteran QB if they don’t like what they see.
I for one am against giving way tradable assets for a backup QB or draft picks for that matter, so I decided to take a look at available quarterbacks that could be brought in relatively cheaply.
Here are some of the players that could be of interest to the Dallas Cowboys, and no Johnny Manziel or Tim Tebow are absolutely not on this list if you were wondering.
TJ Yates
TJ YatesTJ Yates is personally one of my favorite available free agent quarterbacks. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that he is the one that I am the most familiar with having seen firsthand what he was able to accomplish with the Houston Texans when called upon.
Did you know as a rookie he led the Houston Texans to their first ever playoff win against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012?
Since then, he’s pretty much been regulated to backup duty with the Atlanta Falcons in 2014 and once again for a second time with the Texans in 2015. Unfortunately, he suffered a torn ACL injury in December of the 2015 season, which could explain his availability.
A healthy TJ Yates could be an intriguing backup QB option for the Dallas Cowboys.
Michael Vick
Michael VickI have already seen outcries that the Dallas Cowboys should bring in Michael Vick to be the insurance policy in case Tony Romo is once again injured.
It’s pretty understandable that the most recognizable name among available quarterbacks gets linked to the Cowboys. It happens just about every time a well-known player is released or looking for work, but Michael Vick actually makes sense in a way.
He served admirably as Ben Roethlisberger’s backup in 2015 and could do the same thing for the Cowboys as well. He has experience in the NFC East division and probably still has enough left in the tank to get the job done.
Personally, I’m a little indifferent as to whether or not I think Michael Vick would be a good backup QB for the Dallas Cowboys, but I would be on board with whatever decision they made.
Charlie Whitehurst
Charlie Whitehurst might just be the best looking available QB, which is why he is probably the arm candy of Grammy Award winning singer Jewel.
He is familiar with playing a backup role having done so pretty much his entire NFL career. He has served as a backup QB for the Chargers twice, Seahawks, Titans, and most recently with the Indianapolis Colts in 2015.
Whitehurst spent the majority of his career as a member of the San Diego Chargers in Norv Turner’s offense, so he would be familiar with the system that the Dallas Cowboys use offensively.
Whitehurst’s familiarity with the Cowboys offensive scheme make him someone the Dallas Cowboys could look at to secure that backup QB position behind Tony Romo.
Tarvaris Jackson
Tarvaris JacksonTarvaris Jackson has served as Russell Wilson’s backup quarterback in Seattle for the past three seasons, but an assault with a deadly weapon allocation against him could keep them off of the Dallas Cowboys radar.
I personally think the Cowboys have been reflected negatively in the media enough for bringing in players with troubled pasts, so I don’t think Jackson will be worth the media headache he would bring to the organization.
Nevertheless, he is available and could probably be had on a cheap one year deal if the Dallas Cowboys deem him suitable as a backup QB.
Matt Flynn
Matt FlynnMatt Flynn has been a backup QB for nearly his entire NFL career, much like all the other players on this list.
Flynn has been a member of several teams in the NFL in some sort of capacity. He has been with the Packers twice, Seahawks, Raiders, Bills, Patriots, Jets, and the New Orleans Saints.
He did however get a chance to be the starter for the Seattle Seahawks, but was ultimately beaten out by Russell Wilson in his rookie season.
Flynn is a born and raised Texan, so he would probably welcome a return to his home state. Unfortunately for him, he is probably not sitting near the top of the Cowboys list of backup quarterbacks.
Do any of these backup QB’s sound like good options for the Dallas Cowboys?
Now, you can probably understand why the Cowboys organization is willing to take the wait-and-see approach, while evaluating both Dak Prescott and Jameill Showers.
Please feel free to use the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the possibility of adding any of these quarterbacks. Or share with all of us who you would like to see the Dallas Cowboys add to back up Tony Romo.
Never ever Vick the dog Killer! Evil man.
Ameri Guy, Michael Vick is definitely not somebody I would personally choose to become Tony Romo's backup. I would rather go with Showers or Prescott.
Based on what little I know, Charlie Whitehurst might be the right choice. If he knows the Dallas offense as you say he should be able to quickly get up to speed and learn the Dallas play calling language. Having worked and played in the offense is also an advantage. One of the things S Linehan said about K Moore is that he did not have to change much up if K Moore has to come in for T Romo. He said with a lot of QBs that might be available, he would have to simplify the offense. This is also why I think S Linehan will prefer a veteran QB like C Whitehurst over Showers and Prescott. For them he would have to simplify the offense based on what he said.
Thanks for coming George. I agree that Whitehurst might just be on the short list of options for the Cowboys. I think it will ultimately depend on how well Showers and Prescott perform in the preseason though. If they perform well, I think the Cowboys might just stick with their young QBs.
I think Showers ,given the chance could fill in for Romo and possibly be a future starter in the NFL. Romo would not have had the chance either except circumstances left the Cowboys with no other options and Bill at the helm recognized his competitiveness . Be patient and see what happens in preseason. .
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment Greg. We both seem to be along the same line of thinking. I really want to see what Showers is able to do in the preseason.