In a shocking move to some, but predicted in certain realms of the internet, the Dallas Cowboys have made a major move at the quarterback position. Unable to yet come to a long-term agreement with franchised quarterback Dak Prescott, the club has found a veteran presence to back him up and give them a starting quality option should an injury occur.
The Cowboys are set to sign recently released Andy Dalton to a deal.
#Cowboys are signing QB Andy Dalton, as @AdamSchefter said. Gets $3 million guaranteed and can earn up to $7 million. Mentioned the other day he’d sign quickly but this was extremely quick.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) May 3, 2020
In a sport where the most popular player in town is the backup quarterback, the move is going to send shockwaves through Cowboys Nation. Prescott has a legion of supporters in the fan base, but also enough highly vocal detractors that things are going to be very loud at the earliest lack of success.
The Cowboys have had enough of the unproven backup quarterback scene, or it should be said new head coach Mike McCarthy won’t be having any of it. The Cowboys tendered restricted free agent Cooper Rush to an original round tender, showing they were more than comfortable letting him walk if another team had come calling.
That was the clearest signal they were going to look on the market for help, but it didn’t come in the early phase of free agency. The solution also didn’t come in the draft, where they waited until the seventh round to select James Madison’s Ben DiNucci, who is a third quarterback with intriguing upside but clearly not ready to be a backup for a team with playoff aspirations.
What Dalton brings, gets
Enter Dalton, a nine-year veteran of the Cincinnati Bengals who had success early in his career but fell on hard times after leading his club to the playoffs in his first four seasons. Dalton has a career 70-61-2 record, but that comes after a 50-26-1 start to things, falling on hard times in his last four under-.500 campaigns.
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It’s ironic he was 40-23-1 in his first four seasons, a half a game better than Prescott’s start of 40-26. Dalton has just had horrible performances in playoff games, throwing six interceptions against just one score and passing for under 56% completions. His teams are 0-4 after Week 17. During the regular season, when given healthy weapons, he’s been a more-than-solid QB though, and he’s never had a supporting cast like what is assembled in Dallas.
Amari Cooper is AJ Green’s equal, but Michael Gallup is better than any No. 2 WR they’ve paired with Green, CeeDee Lamb is seen as a future alpha, Ezekiel Elliott is a two-time rushing champion and even without Travis Frederick the offensive line is a formidable unit.
The possibility Dalton is seen as a bridge quarterback to a Cowboys future without Prescott has to be considered.
What it means for the Dak situation
On multiple radio appearances I’ve mentioned not having Prescott signed by now is troubling for the long-term agreement, as there isn’t going to be much that changes either side’s opinion on his value.
Granted, Prescott just lost his brother and is in mourning so it’s no surprise nothing has happened on the contract front since the draft’s conclusion. An agreement could be right around the corner, but it hasn’t been to this point, and there’s been 17 months to make that happen.
Prescott ascended last season. The market is only going to grow with the pending new deals of other young quarterbacks and Dallas has already seen they missed the chance to sign him for cheap heading into 2019.
If Prescott falters in 2020 under the franchise tag, he’s still going to want to be paid at the top of the league because he’s been ridiculously underpaid for four seasons and earned his payday. His opinion on that, or knowledge of what he’d fetch on the open market isn’t likely to be altered.
The two sides are reportedly not far apart on price, but on years; but the two go hand in hand. Prescott likely wants a higher annual value if he’s going to sign for the number of years Dallas wants to lock him in, as he’s banking on the new television contracts to flood salary cap with ridiculous money in a couple seasons, similar to the impact seen in the NBA.
Signing Dalton doesn’t mean the door closes on the possibility, but Prescott made the decision to skip the club’s voluntary virtual offseason and learn McCarthy’s system. That’s an impediment to a successful season and the club is completely in their right to protect themselves in this regard.
The team will almost certainly come out and vocalize their support of Prescott as the long-term answer in Dallas and speak to this simply being a move to improve the chances for a Super Bowl in 2020. Yet still…
Career, Part Deux
Dalton also opens up the possibility to be a reclamation project like the quarterback he succeeded in Cincinnati, Carson Palmer.
Palmer remained a projected starter after leaving, but the two had extremely similar stats over their first nine seasons.
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When Palmer got with QB guru Bruce Arians in Arizona, had a resurgence that saw the best years of his career.
Even without a starting gig guaranteed, one has to imagine Dalton likes his chances given the environment. One can see the innovative offense Kellen Moore ran last season for Dallas, at least at the beginning of the year, and combined with McCarthy’s West Coast Offense which Dalton is familiar with, it would seem one of the better landing spots. With Cincinnati waiting so long to release him, his likelihood of finding a starting job for 2020 were very low, and Dallas provides the most vast array of weaponry of any of the other backup landing spots with an inkling of long-term opportunity.
The quarterback position is the most important one in all of sports. On the surface, the Cowboys have just locked in a player with starting experience, regular-season winning pedigree and a hometown feel, as Dalton is from Katy, Texas and attended TCU. Underneath, they’ve given themselves a look at what life could be like if they aren’t able to agree with Prescott.
That’s worth the price tag of admission on what is about to be a roller coaster season to be remembered.
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