The Dallas Cowboys have a lot to sort out on their offense ahead of the Sept. 11 opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The replacement quarterback is one of them.
Dallas added some clarity to the picture ahead of the final cuts as Ben DiNucci will be released by the team ahead of the 53-man roster deadline on Tuesday, by ESPN. DiNucci, who played three games with the Cowboys as a rookie in 2020, completed 23 of 43 passes for 219 yards without a touchdown or interception. The 2020 seventh-round pick spent the 2021 season on the practice squad and signed a reserve/term contract with the team this offseason. DiNucci completed 16 of 27 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions this preseason.
The Cowboys quarterback candidates will boil down to Cooper Rush and Will Grier. Rush, the No. 2 quarterback last season, completed 17 of 31 passes for 136 yards with one interception (52.6 rating). He started all three preseason games for Dallas, while Grier picked him up and went 18 of 32 for 186 yards and two touchdowns without interceptions (94.0 rating).
Grier is pushing for the Cowboys quarterback position with a strong preseason. The Cowboys could risk losing him on waivers, which is why they’ll have to make a decision on the No. 2 quarterback next week.
Rush was the No. 2 quarterback on two separate stints in Dallas, the first in 2017 when he was promoted to backup in Week 6 of his rookie season (as an undrafted free agent ). He held that role for three years before being released in 2020 when Dallas signed Andy Dalton, only to return in October of that year after the Giants released him from their practice squad. Rush won the No. 2 spot again in 2021, but his seat is hot with competition from Grier.
A 2019 third-round pick by the Carolina Panthers, Grier made two starts in his rookie year and completed 28 of 52 passes for 228 yards with zero touchdowns and four interceptions (33.2 rating). He hasn’t played a regular season game since December 2019 and spent two years with Carolina before being waived in 2021.
Unless a top quarterback who had a strong preseason goes over the waiver wire this week, Rush or Grier are the Cowboys’ options at backup quarterback. Grier is confident he’s done enough to make the roster thanks to his strong preseason, which could be his last shot at an NFL roster.
“I think with a larger sample size you might see more, but in the end I put it all online and that’s all I can do,” Grier said via the website. Cowboys. “A lot of it is about being present and focusing on what you control. And that sounds very simple. It sounds cliché, but really diving into it and being good at it makes a difference.”