Getty Cowboys QB Cooper Rush
Cooper Rush’s biggest fan inside The Star, it turns out, is the man who cuts his checks.
There is a reason Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones re-signed the former undrafted quarterback after he briefly defected to the rival Giants in 2020.
The same reason Rush, following last week’s two-touchdown effort, has entered the conversation to become Dallas’ full-time backup behind Dak Prescott. And why he’s now at the center of that conversation, slated to start Sunday’s preseason finale against Jacksonville.
“It’s great though to have a quarterback, for instance in Cooper Rush, that understands the game,” Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan, via the official Cowboys website.
Jerry’s name-drop is no insignificant footnote.
If Rush were to cement the QB2 job, improbably vanquishing Garrett Gilbert, and if something were to happen to Prescott (again), the organization would feel comfortable leaning on the 27-year-old’s laurels.
Cuckoo for Cooper?
“We can do everything. We can do our complete portfolio as far as our offense is concerned with Cooper Rush,” Jones said. “He’s a little different, but still we can do everything. That’s good. I’ve seen the time when the backup quarterback didn’t allow you to do everything you wanted to do. That’s really good there. We’ll see how this game checks out with the competition here and then we’ll make a decision this weekend.”
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Pinching Pennies
An interesting point was raised in regard to Dallas not pairing a high-profile insurance policy with Prescott, the franchise cornerstone returning from ankle and shoulder injuries.
Jones attempted that last season, handing $10 million to Andy Dalton, who also missed time and “led” the club to a 6-10 finish. Which seems to have swayed his thinking; you don’t necessarily get what you pay for.
“You look around the league and most clubs don’t break the bank at backup quarterback when you got the premium player we have at quarterback,” Jones said. “That leaves you a little vulnerable when your main guy isn’t in there to be trite. We had it backed up last year the best that I’ve ever seen, and it didn’t work for us. We lost Dak and we still, our backup quarterback had issues of availability, Andy Dalton. So, no matter what you put there doesn’t necessarily have the results that you want. That’s no basis of making a decision and doing the very best that you can do at backup quarterback.”
Rush and Gilbert both are set to make just $920,000 in base salary in 2021. That’ll do for a Cowboys squad roughly $5.37 million under the salary cap — and a boss who’s tightening his purse strings at the sport’s most important position.
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Dak’s Back
On Wednesday, Prescott participated in the team portion of practice for the first time since straining his throwing shoulder on July 28. He completed 11-of-12 pass attempts during the practice, including a few long balls to his receivers.
On Thursday, Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore assuaged lingering concerns over Dak’s health, confirming the $160 million signal-caller is all systems go for Sept. 9.
“We’re just playing ball at this point. We’re not looking at anything from a limitation standpoint,” Moore said, per the official Cowboys website. “We’re playing football, and obviously from his standpoint we’re getting ready for the regular season and Tampa Bay.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL