Quarterback problems are not rare in the world of the NFL, where franchises deal with the eternal struggle of finding the right man to be under center leading their football teams to, in the best case scenario, a Super Bowl, in a much more realistic way, relevancy.
But the Dallas Cowboys have a particular problem at the position they're happy to have: They have three solid quarterbacks they'll try to fit into the 53-man roster .
One of them happens to be a second-team All-Pro in Dak Prescott. The other one is a proven backup who has shown the Cowboys repeatedly that he'll keep them in the game when his name is called and has a surprising win-loss record of 5-1 for his career. The third one is the unpolished, highly athletic Trey Lance , that once made Kyle Shanahan's San Francisco 49ers trade three first-round picks in order to land his services.
As the Cowboys try to determine what to do with Rush and Lance while figuring out who will be Prescott's direct backup, it's difficult to know exactly how they feel about Lance. Clearly, they want him on the roster and ideally, they wish he'd be QB2. However, questions remain about how game-ready he is even four years into his NFL career.
Jerry Jones recently claimed Lance had already locked up a spot on the 53-man roster but how does the coaching staff feel about potentially having to turn to him in the scenario Prescott goes down? That remains to be seen.
The same cannot be said about Cooper Rush, who clearly still has the trust of Mike McCarthy and company, as the head coach showed on Wednesday.
"Cooper is the same man every single day," McCarthy told reporters ahead of the team's final padded practice. "He's super consistent, he's on top of his game, I think if you look at his snaps that he's had this year, it's definitely quality over quantity and that's by design."
We knew entering the preseason that the Cowboys would want to give most of the reps to Trey Lance because that's what he needed the most. However, that path wouldn't have worked if the team wasn't confident enough in what they've got in Rush.
McCarthy went on to give Rush the ultimate compliment, not hiding how he feels about the veteran: He mostly takes the offense down the field.
"This is clearly in my time with him, his best cam," McCarthy added. "I think his decision making has been on point, his footwork and some of the things he's done has has been impressive, there's not too many two-minute drills that we go out here where Cooper doesn't take offense right down the field."
As next Tuesday's cutdown deadline quickly approaches, the Cowboys are likely going to carry both Rush and Lance on their roster. But ideally, they'll already know by then who will get the "QB2" title. Based purely on McCarthy's comments, Rush sounds like the favorite at this point.
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