DALLAS — The dust has settled on the NFL Draft, and the undrafted free agency period, so now the Dallas Cowboys will focus on minicamps leading into training camp when they're not busy trying to work out contract extensions for their key players.
There will be plenty of training camp battles this offseason with plenty of new faces getting into the mix.
There is one position group that the Cowboys will certainly not have to worry about when it comes time to name a starter. Of course we are referring to the quarterback position. However, even though Dak Prescott holds down the starting job, that does not mean that there won’t be any competition among the ranks.
Dak Prescott will be the starting quarterback for the Cowboys as he has been in every year since being drafted. Going into the fourth and final year on his rookie contract, he will be looking to earn a substantial pay day but the Cowboys count on him to pilot the team to victory so that pay day will come.
So far, Prescott has done the job of winning football games for Dallas and he has done so as a fourth-round selection who helped the team transition away from the Tony Romo years without missing much of a beat competitively. It has yet to be seen if Prescott is a Super Bowl champion caliber QB but for now, he's exceeded all expectations that anyone could have had for him during his time leading the offense.
Behind Prescott is where the waters become a bit murkier. Last year's backup Cooper Rush – a undrafted free agent signing in 2017, and 2018 fifth-round draft selection Mike White will be fighting for the right to be Dak's immediate backup, just as they did last summer.
The team obviously liked White enough to carry him all season as the third quarterback even though they could have used the roster spot for a more pressing need. Their reward for keeping White active is having another option for backup with a full season of learning from the sideline under his belt.
Rush will be entering his third year in the league while White comes into his second season in 2019. For his career, Rush has appeared in three games and completed one pass on just three attempts. White has yet to appear in an NFL regular season game. Such is the life for the backup QBs of a team with a competent starting QB.
Despite their limited action, it should still be quite the battle between both quarterbacks for the right to carry the clipboard. White has all the arm talent you want from a quarterback while Rush is on the roster for being the more cerebral of the two.
Last preseason, when his number was called, Rush didn't seem to have the same impact during the games as he had the previous year when he was beaten out for the backup job by now offensive coordinator Kellen Moore before taking over the job by October on 2017. Nevertheless, Rush was awarded the job of backup to Prescott in 2018 perhaps due to his experience in the offense.
This season could very well be a different story with a full year under Mike White’s belt. These two young quarterbacks will need to give it their all at the camps this summer to earn that spot rather than one winning the spot by default which almost felt like the case last year.
Football is a very physical game and while Prescott has shown great availability, you never know when the time may come that either one of these young guns could be called upon to keep the ship moving in the right direction.
How do you feel about the quarterbacks that the Cowboys have on the roster? Share your thoughts on the backup battle with Patrick on Twitter @DraftCowboys.