Cowboys Insider Claims Jerry Jones ‘Wants’ Dak Prescott QB Controversy

Getty Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a conversation before an NFL game.

The Dallas Cowboys are in the middle of an interesting situation at quarterback, as backup QB Cooper Rush has done a great job standing in for Dak Prescott.

Rush is 2-0 as a starter this season (and 3-0 as a starter for Dallas) after Prescott suffered a fractured thumb in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Owner Jerry Jones has been vocal about his support for Rush, while also being steadfast in saying that Prescott is the starter when he’s healthy. However, Fox Sports’ David Helman believes that Jones is stoking the fire of a QB controversy.

“Cooper Rush hasn’t put pressure on Dak Prescott, the Dallas Cowboys have put pressure on Dak Prescott. That’s the nature of this team,” Helman said on a September 29 episode of Speak. “You’ve got an owner who is encouraging this. Jerry Jones wants this conversation to happen. It’s the biggest fanbase in the world, or at least in the world of football, so the beautiful thing about the Cowboys fanbase is that you can find somebody who believes anything about the team.”

That’s not all that Helman had to say, but it’s important to provide Jones’ recent words as context.

Jones Creates Buzz with Prescott, Rush Comments

The Cowboys are no stranger to controversy and Jones doesn’t shy away from speaking his mind, no matter if it sends the wrong message. So when the Dallas owner said “of course” he’d want a QB controversy this month, it obviously made waves.

“Of course I would welcome it. Of course. That means we’d have won,” Jones said, per Dallas Morning News reporter Michael Gehlken. “If he comes in there and plays as well as Prescott played, Rush? Played that well over these next games ahead? I’d walk to New York to get that… Wouldn’t it be something if you had a dilemma as to which way to go. You’d want that controversy? Of course I would.”

What Jones was trying to say was that he wants Rush to play so well that the decision is difficult, but it’s also fairly evident that Prescott wouldn’t be benched for the QB upon recovery. Heavy recently covered team EVP Stephen Jones saying as much, declaring Dak to be the “franchise quarterback.”

Still, Jones is feeding the frenzy with his comments. Rush has done well, but Helman explained that the inner chemistry of the Cowboys is still centered around Prescott.

Cowboys Believe Dak is ‘That Dude’

Beyond calling out Jones for wanting a quarterback controversy, another interesting tidbit from Helman was his talk about Prescott’s presence in Dallas. 

After explaining that Rush playing well actually puts less pressure on Dak to recover, he explained that the franchise holds him in very high regard.

“Being around that team, I can’t stress to y’all enough: Dak is that dude in that organization,” Helman said. “When Dak was coming up, what was the engine of that team? It was Dak and [Ezekiel Elliot] being rookies. There was a moment when the torch got passed and even veterans like Dez Bryant and Jason Witten were like, ‘These young cats have it, man…’ Dak has been here the whole time, I think that carries extra weight.”

Helman’s not wrong, but the Cowboys have done more surprising things than bench a quarterback in Prescott’s position. Now, it’s a matter of “wait-and-see” to see what Dallas does when the QB is healthy.