Alex Smith & Andy Dalton: Could Washington & Cowboys Switch QBs?

What if each team - the Washington Football Team and the Dallas Cowboys - offers a QB solution for the other?

Matt Galatzan | Mar 8, 2021

The Washington Football Team needs an upgrade from Alex Smith at QB.

The Dallas Cowboys might need a replacement for Andy Dalton as their backup QB.

What if each team offers the solution for the other?

Our Mike Fisher, stationed at Cowboys headquarters at The Star in Frisco, has floated the name of Smith as a guy who, if affordable, could be helpful to the Cowboys as a backup to Dak Prescott. (That is, assuming those two parties get their contractual wrinkles ironed out.) Fish, along with The Athletic, note that Smith has an old-timey history with Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy. (McCarthy was San Francisco’s offensive coordinator when the 49ers drafted Smith in 2005.)

The Athletic calls Dallas "a plausible destination for Smith, depending on what happens with Andy Dalton in free agency.''

And Fish points out that for the most part during the Jerry Jones era in Dallas, the Cowboys have tried to employ top-notch second-string QBs, Fish calling the position "the 12th starter.''

Smith was a $20 million QB in Washington last year. That, of course, is unlikely to be his payday going forward.

Meanwhile, Dalton - for a decade the first-team guy in Cincinnati before signing his one-year deal back home in Texas a season ago - made just $3 million in base salary in 2020. He's obviously looking for a better deal than that, and a rebound to a starting job in the NFL.

Washington is clear in its desire to not "overpay'' for a new QB. There are many directions the WFT could go here, including coach Ron Rivera signing Cam Newton or simply elevating Taylor Heinicke. But Dalton is solid and might be affordable.

Dallas has stated it would like Dalton to return, but if he doesn't? Alex Smith might represent "solid and affordable'' to the Cowboys, too.

Published Mar 8, 2021

MATT GALATZAN