Tag: cooper rush

Cowboys $91 million position predicted to be addressed in both draft, free agency

A review of what the Cowboys have at QB, what they’ll do once the league year starts with free agency and the draft.

With the 2024 NFL season concluding Sunday, it’s now time for all 32 teams to turn their attention to the 2025 season.  There is approximately just one month’s time for teams to finalize their game plans of how they want to attack the offseason and for the Dallas Cowboys, there’s a lot of work to be done.

The team has configured the majority of their new coaching staff, led by new head coach Brian Schottenheimer and his new coordinators Klayton Adams and Matt Eberflus. Personnel director Will McClay has been extended for five more seasons and now the attention needs to turn to fixing the roster that resulted in a 7-10 regular season record. Everything starts at the top, and in the NFL that’s the quarterback position.

Rostered: $90.9 million in cap space

The Cowboys have two players under contract for 2025, starter Dak Prescott and backup Will Grier.

Prescott enters the first year of his four-year extension signed at the beginning of last season worth $240 million. Currently he is set to take up $89.9 million of cap space, with the salary cap expected to come in around $272.5 million in 2025. Clearly the Cowboys aren’t going to allow one player to eat up one-third of their cap space and the team will restructure the deal, as was intended when it was signed.

Restructuring Prescott’s base salary ($47.75 million) can be done all at once, or as cap space is needed. The minimum base salary for a player with Prescott’s experience (7+ years) is $1.255 million. Up to $46.5 million of salary can be spread evenly over five years (four contract years and the first of four void years already built in) meaning the club could shave up to $37.2 million off of Prescott’s 2025 cap hit.

Grier is a placeholder, signed well after Prescott was lost for the year, and is no guarantee to make the club, or even training camp for that matter. He’s currently on the books for the league minimum of $1.17 million and has a cap hit of $1.03 million.

Prediction: Restructure Prescott, Grier is a camp body with a shot.

Pending Free Agents

Prescott’s primary backups for the last two seasons, Cooper Rush and Trey Lance, are both pending free agents. Dallas traded for Lance, giving up a 2024 fourth-round pick in 2023, and gave him no opportunity to prove he could be a viable backup whatsoever, giving them little game evidence to decide on.

Rush was given plenty of opportunity and again proved to be a capable bus driver who is mistake prone but able to win some games. Rush has a career 9-5 record with a 2:1 TD:INT ratio, going 4-4 last year with a career worst 40.8 QBR.

There will likely be some team interested in bringing Lance in to give the young guy a shot and likely some team interested in having Rush around while they groom a young QB out of the draft. There’s arguments for either or neither to be back in Dallas, but not both.

Prediction: Both sign elsewhere.

External Free Agents

There’s a limited amount of intriguing QBs in free agency this year, and the Cowboys aren’t going to be looking to spend significant space on a backup with so many other needs. Failures elsewhere, such as Justin Fields, Mac Jones and Daniel Jones, will probably have a market that prices the Cowboys out.

Prediction: Sign Jameis Winston, two-year, $7.5 million (void years), $2 million cap hit

2025 NFL Draft

The Cowboys could have gone in multiple directions with their head coaching hire, but clearly were looking for stability with the staff that has worked with Prescott. Any idea the club would be looking to escape Prescott’s contract soon and draft an heir apparent to groom went out the window with Schotty’s hire.

That doesn’t mean the club will be out on QB in the draft though, as it makes sense to draft and develop a future backup.

Prediction: Use one of their four fifth-round picks to draft a QB, such as Louisville’s Tyler Shough.

Which quarterbacks did the Commanders defeat in 2024?

A look at the quarterbacks the Commanders defeated in 2024.

The Team 980 morning host Kevin Sheehan Tuesday morning asked his listeners which quarterbacks the Commanders had beaten this season.

Yes, the Commanders won 12 games this season, and that is wonderful. But let’s also go through the list as Sheehan did, and you might be a bit surprised to be reminded. I don’t recall the order in which Sheehan unveiled the list, but here is the list:

  • First, the Commanders’ five losses this season came against Baker Mayfield (Bucs), Lamar Jackson (Ravens), Russell Wilson (Steelers), Jalen Hurts (Eagles) and Cooper Rush (Cowboys).
  • Four of those five teams to whom the Commanders lost are in the playoffs, which begins this weekend: Bucs, Ravens, Steelers, and Eagles.
  • The Commanders won NFC East games against Daniel Jones (Giants twice), Kenny Pickett (Eagles), and Trey Lance (Cowboys). The Giants finished 3-14, The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts was concussed in the first quarter, and Lance is the Cowboys’ third-string quarterback.
  • Other NFC games the Commanders won: Cardinals (Kyler Murray), Panthers (Andy Dalton), Bears (Caleb Williams), Saints (Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler), Falcons (Michael Penix). Dalton was later benched, Williams and the Bears lost ten straight during the season, Haener and Rattler were the Saints No. 2 and No. 3 quarterbacks behind Derek Carr, and Penix was playing his second NFL game.
  • In the AFC games, the Commanders won: the Bengals (Joe Burrow), Browns (Deshaun Watson), and Titans (Will Levis). Burrow is an All-Pro, Watson’s career has spiraled downward the last two seasons, and Levis, in his two NFL seasons, is 5-16 as a starter, including 2-10 this season.

Conclusion:

This should remind readers of the 2020 season, when Washington mainly defeated lower-tier quarterbacks on their way to a 7-9 season. However, the significant difference is this year’s Commanders had several games where their offense was explosive. Thus, the Commanders won 12 games. Washington’s offense can compete in the 2024 playoffs. The issue will be how well the defense plays against a quality quarterback(s).

Do the Cowboys have a surprise planned for Commanders?

Dallas could be making a QB change for all the wrong reasons.

The Washington Commanders (11-5) face the Dallas Cowboys (7-9) on Sunday in the regular-season finale. Dallas won the first meeting, 34-26, after a wild finish in Week 12.

That’s the last time Washington lost. The Commanders have won four in a row, clinched a playoff berth, and are looking to lock up the NFC’s No. 6 seed with a win on Sunday in Jerry World.

The Cowboys have nothing to play for on Sunday and will be without star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. That means quarterback Cooper Rush, who replaced the injured Dak Prescott back in Week 9, will be without one of the NFL’s best wide receivers.

What if Rush isn’t under center for Dallas on Sunday against the Commanders? According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, fourth-year quarterback Trey Lance is expected to play “significant snaps” against Washington.

It’s the right move for the Cowboys, and they probably should’ve done it two weeks ago when they were officially eliminated from playoff contention. That’s not a knock on Rush, who played well. Dallas actually had a better record with Rush under center this season than with Prescott.

A former top-five pick of the 49ers, the Cowboys made a questionable trade for Lance two years ago, paying his rookie contract and having him serve as the No. 3 quarterback.

Lance is an excellent runner with a strong arm, but he has a long way to go before he proves he is an NFL starting quarterback. The 49ers gave up on Lance after eight games and four starts despite moving up in the draft for him in 2021.

While seeing what Lance can do is the right move, it sounds more like the Cowboys want to avoid paying Rush a $500,000 bonus for participating in 55% of Dallas’ offensive snaps in 2024. Rush earned $250K of that bonus for playing 45% of the offensive snaps. He’s currently at 52.3% for the season.

Some things will never change.

Meanwhile, the Commanders have several players looking to earn achievable incentives in Sunday’s game. Do you think owner Josh Harris would tell coach Dan Quinn to bench Dante Fowler, Zach Ertz, or Frankie Luvu? Of course not. The former owner would have, you know, Jerry Jones’ buddy.

Sights and sounds from first half as Eagles hold a 24-7 lead over the Cowboys

Sights and sounds from first half as Eagles hold a 24-7 lead over the Cowboys

It was another disastrous first quarter, but the Eagles’ defense found their footing, and Kenny Pickett discovered a connection with DeVonta Smith. Buoyed by two C.J. Gardner-Johnson interceptions, Philadelphia found their rhythm and held a 24-7 lead over the Cowboys in the first half.

An Eagles win Locks up the NFC East and the No. 2 seed in the conference while allowing Jalen Hurts another week to recover from his concussion.

With the second half set to begin, here are ten takeaways from the first half.

***

WATCH: C.J. Gardner-Johnson with a 70-yard pick six off Cowboys QB Cooper Rush

Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson put the Birds up 7-0 with a 70 yard pick six off Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush

C.J. Gardner-Johnson is the engine that makes the Eagles defense go and he spent all week talking about redemption after getting ejected in Philadelphia’s 36-33 loss to Washington in Week 16. With Dallas on a solid first drive, Gardner-Johnson ended a seven play, 35 yard Cowboys drive that ate up 3:17 on the clock with a dazzling 70 yard interception for a huge touchdown.

Cowboys’ UDFA projected as replacement for $100 million, former 1st-round pick with Vikings

Could Cooper Rush end up in Minnesota after once again proving his value in Dallas? There’s a domino effect on the way.

The Dallas Cowboys may have a surprise bidding war on their hands come next spring. When the 2024 season started, everyone pointed to the pending free agency of players such as Zack Martin, Osa Odighizuwa and DeMarcus Lawrence. Brandin Cooks was identified as a potentially key exodus as well, and fans were hopeful Rico Dowdle would prove to be a commodity.

Prior to the regular season, there were heart palpitations over the fact Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb were on the final year of their deals; the ordeals taking up most of the ink spilled over the summer. Because of that, Trey Lance’s pending free agency was a topic as well. But one name that didn’t much matter to most folks was the pending free agency of Cooper Rush.

That may have all changed. After once again proving that, although not very dynamic, Rush has what it takes to drive a talented ship toward victory. He has a ton of faults, but Rush’s quick processing and release have allowed him to once again be a long-term replacement for an injured Prescott and keep the Cowboys afloat.

After Sunday night’s 26-24 win that knocked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of the NFC South driver seat, despite his own club being eliminated from the playoff chase earlier in the day, Rush has secured the title of capable backup.

Rush is now 4-3 on the season and 9-4 overall as an NFL starter. The seven-year vet has now become a quarterback teams can win with, and teams that are breeding young QBs of various expectations love QBs like Rush.

So much so, Bleacher Report’s Scouting Department identified Rush as a replacement for soon-to-be Pro Bowler Sam Darnold in Minnesota.

The big question facing Minnesota’s front office this offseason is what to do with Sam Darnold, who has played well enough to earn a new contract and be a starter in 2025. However, the organization also invested a first-round pick in J.J. McCarthy last spring.

If the club lets Darnold walk to make way for McCarthy, signing Rush as a backup in free agency would be a smart move. That gives the young quarterback a good mentor, and the 31-year-old has plenty of starting experience to fill in when needed.

Darnold has been balling this year, his first with Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings. Through 15 games he’s shattered his career highs with 3,776 passing yards and 32 touchdowns to the tune of a 105.4 passer rating.

Minnesota’s situation is very interesting in that they invested a premium draft pick and the head coach is a known QB guru. Darnold, according to Spotrac, is in line for an annual salary of $35.4 million on the free agent market. At just 27 years old, the former first-round pick of the New York Jets is likely going to command a solid QB contract on the open market.

Unless he’s forced into a prove-it deal, he’ll land at least a three-year run which means a contract value of at least $100 million.

Fantasy football sleepers to play in Week 16

Taking a look at some potential sleepers to play in Week 16 for fantasy football.

Just two weeks remain in the fantasy football season as the playoffs have gotten underway in the majority of leagues.

Whether you’re looking for a boost to help your playoff lineup or simply looking for some dart throws in daily fantasy, we’ve got you covered on potential sleepers at every position.

Be sure to check out The Huddle’s weekly PPR projections and rankings as well as the start/bench list to help formulate the best lineup possible.

‘Something we’ve got to work on’: Cowboys QB Cooper Rush near top of league in this one dubious stat

From @ToddBrock24f7: Rush has 9 fumbles since taking over as the Cowboys starter. Most of the other players with 9 or more have played twice as many snaps.

There’s been plenty to like about Cooper Rush’s play during his latest stint as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Since Dak Prescott went down in Week 9, Rush has gone 3-3 as the starter, completing 60% of his passes, averaging just over 200 yards per game and- perhaps most important- tossing nine touchdowns to only two interceptions.

It hasn’t been terribly sexy, but he’s filled in admirably. Just this week, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer praised the veteran’s experience, calm demeanor and leadership, even his contributions in helping the running game finally get going after a slow start in 2024.

There is one big-ticket item Rush needs to get a handle on, however: keeping a handle on the ball. The 31-year-old has been credited with nine fumbles since taking over in Dallas, a total that’s third-most in the league.

Some have come on shotgun snaps. Others have come on a bad under-center exchange, and Schottenheimer was quick to point out that not all nine fumbles have necessarily been Rush’s fault alone.

No matter who is to blame, it’s dangerous every time it happens.

Rush had two fumbles on Sunday against Carolina, including a botched red-zone play-action option to Rico Dowdle that turned into a Panthers touchdown just one play later.

Since taking over for Prescott, Rush has had at least one fumble in every game except one this season. And though the team has lost possession on just three of them, it’s something Schottenheimer acknowledges needs to stop.

“There’s a technique that you use in terms of where the ball is extended and how you have to ride it,” he explained to reporters this week. “It’s very technical, but [Cooper] was great; he communicated right after the drive and said, ‘It caught Rico’s hip. It’s on me.'”

But Schottenehimer also shared some of the responsibility for what has become a troubling trend.

“We emphasize it, but obviously we’re not doing a great enough job coaching it. We’ve got to coach it better.”

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Again, Rush’s nine fumbles are currently tied for third-most in the league. While it’s fewer than Kirk Cousins and even Baker Mayfield (who the Cowboys will face in Week 16) and the same as guys like Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, and Lamar Jackson, Rush’s nine fumbles have come on literally half as many snaps as each of those other passers.

Even the Colts’ Anthony Richardson, who also has nine fumbles this year, has played 100 more snaps than Rush.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Rush said Sunday after the team’s 30-14 win in Charlotte. “I’ve got to figure that one out, the zone-read stuff.”

Schottenheimer admitted plays like that one are especially tricky for a backup who’s amassed more time holding a clipboard than staring down live defenses on gameday.

“There’s a decision, right?” the OC explained. “‘Do I hand it? Do I keep it? Do I pull it? Do I pull it and throw?’ There’s a lot of things going through his mind. [It’s] something we’ll certainly continue to emphasize and drill even more.”

This week would be a good time for Schottenheimer and Rush to incorporate those added ball-security drills; Tampa Bay is tied for second place leaguewide in fumble takeaways.

“The fundamentals need to get better and [are] something we’ve got to work on,” Schottenheimer said.

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Panthers fans react to Bryce Young and Jalen Coker’s electric 83-yard TD

Bryce Young and Jalen Coker connected for the Panthers’ longest play of the 2024 season on Sunday.

Down 10-0 near the end of the first half, and with the Dallas Cowboys threatening for more, the Carolina Panthers desperately needed a spark to keep their chances in Week 15 alive. Fortunately for them, that spark came in a flash.

The complementary football head coach Dave Canales has been looking for showed up in the final minute of the second quarter, when outside linebacker DJ Johnson recovered a fumble at Carolina’s own 17-yard line.

That, on the very next snap, would be followed by an 83-yard touchdown connection between quarterback Bryce Young and rookie wide receiver Jalen Coker. Their less conventional scoop-and-score turned what could have been at least a 13-0 deficit into a 10-7 one.

Here’s how Panthers fans reacted to their team’s longest and most exciting play of the season . . .

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This is currently the Cowboys offense’s best chance without Dak Prescott

The Cowboys need Cooper Rush to play within himself and that means conservative. @ReidDHanson looks at the evidence.

Cooper Rush has played in eight games in 2024, starting four while logging a total of 320 snaps. In that time, he’s passed the ball 185 times, completing 112, for a total of 1,008 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. His 48.0 grade at Pro Football Focus ranks him last in the NFL by a rather significant margin and his -0.027 EPA+CPOE composite score backs up such a claim (also last in the NFL).

It’s safe to say at this point the Cowboys know what they have in Rush. Despite banging out two consecutive wins, he’s not a quarterback that elevates a team. And despite calls to open up the offense and take more shots downfield, Mike McCarthy appears to be doing the smart thing with his replacement QB by taking a conservative approach.

The Cowboys opponent in Week 14 begs such a conservative attack. The zone-happy Bengals defense ranks 28th in EPA/dropback, 29th in rush EPA allowed and 30th in total EPA allowed. They are vulnerable to both the run and the pass and as long as Dallas plays within themselves, they should be able to find success against the Cincinnati defense.

In situations such as this it will be tempting for the Cowboys to take shots down the field. That’s not only unnecessary, but it asks Rush to succeed in an area of personal weakness. Based on FTN Data shown by Doug Analytics, Rush has thrown catchable deep balls on less than 30 percent of his attempts this season. He’s also bottom three in attempts and catchability percentage.

PFF tracking shows Rush has attempted 16 passes of 20 or more yards and completed just four of them for a 25 percent completion rate. One of those passes qualified as a big-time throw and one pass qualified as a turnover worthy throw. It’s arguably the biggest inefficiency in his game, making the case for McCarthy to avoid deep passes with Rush at the helm.

Even in the 10–19-yard range Rush has struggled in 2024. His completion percentage sits at just 40 percent and this intermediate range grades as his poorest on the field with him throwing three times as many turnover worthy throws than big time throws.

For as much as the Cowboys running game and defense have struggled in 2024, they are areas Dallas simply has to lean on in order to win games. Combined with a dink and dunk passing attack that plays inside the numbers, the Cowboys are best positioned to win games behind Rush at QB.

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