Cowboys Also 'Value' Backup Quarterback

Taking a page from Eagles QB playbook, Dallas brought Andy Dalton home as the backup to Dak Prescott

Howie Roseman went on a bit of a post-Jalen Hurts media tour this past week and spent a lot of his time explaining how much the Eagles value the backup quarterback position.

About 1,500 miles away Jerry Jones was apparently listening in North Texas.

On Saturday, the Dallas Cowboys brought Andy Dalton home, signing the 32-year-old red rifle with over 130 career NFL starts back to the Lone Star State on a cost-effective deal to be the backup for Dak Prescott.

Jones, of course, wasn’t really swayed by Roseman’s spin of the Hurts pick, a narrative crafted in response to the reaction over the curious use of a premium asset by the Eagles after breaking the bank for Carson Wentz’s lucrative contract extension during the prior offseason.

“When coach (Doug) Pederson came in and we sat down in 2016, we said we were always going to be about the quarterback position, that it was the most important position in sports,” said Roseman after selecting Hurts, the high-profile former Alabama and Oklahoma signal-caller.

The roots of the Cowboys’ decision did actually start in Philadelphia, however. On Dec. 22 of last year to be exact when Dallas lost what was essentially the de facto NFC East title game 17-9.

Fighting through an AC Joint shoulder issue Prescott played poorly and the path was paved for the Eagles, who then took care of business against a moribund New York Giants team in Week 17 en route to a third consecutive playoff berth.

Fans looking through a green prism caught up in Wentz vs. Prescott and the angst of the Philly-Dallas rivalry use that performance as some kind of window into Prescott’s losing soul.

The irony is what Prescott proved to the Cowboys and the rest of the NFL. He shouldn’t have been playing against the Eagles that day but took pain injections before the contest and at halftime to get through it all because the alternative was Cooper Rush.

The Cowboys don’t want to be in that situation again and have essentially secured arguably the best backup in the NFL in Dalton, the long-time starter in Cincinnati who was unseated by No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow.

Dalton isn’t Joe Montana but consider the narrative surrounding Burrow leading up to the 2020 draft and whether or not the Heisman Trophy winner should have used his leverage to steer himself away from Cincinnati, an organization that is notorious for not giving its players and coaches the support to succeed.

Before Dalton arrived as the 35th overall pick in 2011 the Bengals has made the postseason twice in the prior 20 years. They turned the trick five consecutive times as soon as Dalton took over as a rookie, winning 50 games over a five-year span.

The postseason failures overshadowed the obvious success but if Burrow did the same for Cincinnati as the No. 1 overall pick over the next five regular seasons with say one postseason win he’d be regarded as the second coming of Ken Anderson.

The Eagles might value the backup QB position more than anyone else when it comes to evaluation and planning but the best option in the NFC East for 2020 already lived in Dallas during the offseason Now, he actually plays for the Cowboys.

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, Every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio, and every weekday on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen