It is true that, heading into the 2025 offseason, the Dallas Cowboys have a long list of issues that require attention. They need a No. 2 wide receiver, they need to figure out what to do with Rico Dowdle and the future of the running back position. The Cowboys need depth and experience on the offensive line. They need to remake the defensive line and need help at safety.
There probably is not much confidence, as things stand, in the ability of Jerry Jones and the team’s ramshackle front office to actually make these moves, and execute them well. But in the shuffle of what’s going on with the Cowboys depth chart, it’s important, too, that they not forget one critical role on this team.
Backup quarterback. And with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer making the move to head coach, it’s going to get attention.
That’s because the Cowboys carried two quarterbacks for the entire 2023 and 2024 seasons, having made an ill-advised deal for Trey Lance at the end of the 2023 training camp. Lance, ultimately, could not even beat out backup Cooper Rush on the depth chart.
But now both Rush and Lance are free agents, and Dallas might be reluctant to pay decent money to a No. 2, not while Dak Prescott is on a record-setting $240 million deal. Thus, the Cowboys may well look to the NFL draft to fill the role.
Cowboys Could Pick Dak Prescott’s Backup
With Prescott in place, the Cowboys could be willing to gamble on a cheap alternative at QB2. They did sign Will Grier, who has been with the team in two training camps, to a reserve/future contract last month, and he could be given a chance to finally win the job.
But even if Grier is a QB2 candidate, expect Dallas to seek to bolster the depth behind Prescott. With that in mind, Cowboys Wire’s latest mock draft, built “assuming Schottenheimer has a high degree of influence,” has them taking a gamble on a QB with potential–Louisville’s Tyler Shough, whom the site projects landing with Dallas with a sixth-round pick.
“The cupboards are bare in the quarterback room behind Dak Prescott and every new offensive coach wants a new QB to groom in the background so using one of the Day 3 picks for a project passer makes sense for the franchise,” the site’s Reid Hanson wrote.
“Shough is an intriguing prospect because of the skillset he possesses. At 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, he’s built like a pro QB. He has legitimate arm talent, excellent athleticism and proven scrambling ability. His mechanics and footwork can get sloppy but he’s a great value in Round 6.”
Tyler Shough Moving Up on Draft Boards?
In a draft that is especially weak at quarterback, Shough is rated the 12th-best QB prospect by Pro Football Focus, and the 206th-best prospect overall. That means he is on the fringe of not getting drafted at all. While he is physically ideal as a QB prospect, he is also 25–he was on the rather unique seven-year collegiate plan, playing three years at Oregon and three at Texas Tech before landing at Louisville.
He threw for 3,195 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions in 12 games.
Shough might not be around in Round 6, though, after a strong showing at the Senior Bowl. As ESPN’s Louis Riddick noted on the “Rich Eisen Show”:
“I said it down there (in Mobile), I said it during the regular season, I’m gonna say it now. If you put him in an offense like Sean McVay’s, like Kyle Shanahan’s, like Kevin Stefanski’s, this kid is going to be the surprise and steal of the draft, in particular, at quarterback,” Riddick said.
“He can throw it, he is mobile, he’s big, he’s mature. He’s a guy who’s got a lot of mental horsepower, and he’s a guy who’s been coached by Jeff and Brian Brohm, who to me, right now, there is nobody better as far as tutoring quarterbacks for the pro game in all of college football. Remember that name.”
