![]() It’s not so much that Dalton was just bad - his body of work suggests a slightly-above-average player - but that the ceiling for backup quarterbacks is very, very low. ![]() ![]() The fact that the Cowboys’ offensive efficiency didn’t change dramatically between Dalton, Gilbert, and DiNucci is telling. But those were wins against similarly bad teams. There was a brief stretch of games where Dalton got into a groove, the defense showed signs of life, and Dallas strung together a few wins. That one backup was Joe Flacco, so there’s a case to be made that Flacco, not Dalton, was the best backup last year.Įither way, the Cowboys had an incredibly good backup quarterback - 133 career starts, 70 career wins, and 52.4 career QBR is rare to find in a backup - and it ended up doing nothing for the team when Prescott went down. Only five backups had been in the NFL longer than Dalton, only two had more career starts to their name, and only one had a higher career QBR (after adjusting for the Chase Daniel’s and Taysom Hill’s, who had ridiculously high QBR thanks to a very low number of attempts). Just for fun, I did the research on every NFL team’s backup quarterback last year. After signing Andy Dalton, the Cowboys had arguably the best backup quarterback in the NFL. Then there’s the most recent example, which is the 2020 Dallas Cowboys. That’s three times as many examples just off the top of my head. Some names you didn’t think of are Stephen McGee, Kellen Moore, Matt Cassel (but in Dallas), Sage Rosenfels, Austin Davis, Kellen Clemens, AJ Feeley, Dan Orlovsky, Seneca Wallace, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, or Curtis Painter. Case Keenum’s 2017 season was spectacular, derailed only by Nick Foles’ equally great 2017 season, but neither have done much of note before or since.įurthermore, these are all exceptions to the rule. Think about it: how often have teams with upper-echelon, elite quarterbacks actually succeeded when their star goes down? Dak Prescott is an obvious example, but beyond him? Matt Cassel played very well in 2008 when Tom Brady got hurt, but his body of work away from the Patriot Way suggests that had little to do with him. ![]() The reality is probably that backup quarterbacks don’t matter unless the team in question doesn’t have a great quarterback. The quarterback is the most important player on the field at any given time, and despite how much the league tries to protect its quarterbacks they’re not impervious to injury, so it would stand to reason that having a good backup quarterback matters. There is a certain amount of weight placed on the position of backup quarterback that’s understandable at first blush. Which one is actually QB2 on game days remains to be seen, but the concerns over the backup spot don’t seem to have really been alleviated just yet. Rush was the only one to make the team’s initial 53-man roster, but then the Cowboys claimed Will Grier off waivers Tuesday. Well, they ultimately began training camp with a three-way battle between Garrett Gilbert, Cooper Rush, and Ben DiNucci. It was apparently an issue for the coaches too, as Dallas worked out a few free agents and looked at some late-round options in the draft. In between fits of unjustified worry over Dak Prescott’s shoulder and speculating how much the defense can improve under Dan Quinn, the Cowboys’ offseason has also featured some concern over the backup quarterback spot.
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