Dallas Cowboys COO and director of player personnel Stephen Jones has made his intentions for the upcoming NFL Draft clear — he wants fresh blood at quarterback.
With Cooper Rush — who started eight games for the Cowboys in 2024 — becoming an unrestricted free agent this offseason, the team declining Trey Lance’s fifth-year option, and cornerstone starter Dak Prescott recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in November that sidelined him for the year, it looks like Jones wants some insurance at football’s most important position.
Are the Cowboys Trying to Replace Dak Prescott?
“You know, I think one of our goals is to get a young quarterback in the draft,” Jones told The Dallas Morning News. “I don’t know where that’s going to be. That’s why we gave a [fourth-round pick] for Trey. It seems like all the quarterbacks, even guys we have in the fourth round, go in the first. They always go so much higher than what you think.”
Although the incoming rookie could very well be intended as a replacement for Rush and/or Lance in the backup role, it’s not like Prescott’s starting spot is set in stone. After all, Rush (4-4) actually finished the season with a better record than Prescott (3-5) in the same number of starts.
Their stats were also comparable, with Rush (1,844 passing yards, 60.7% completion rate) falling short of Prescott (1,978 passing yards, 64.7% completion rate) in yards and completion percentage but boasting a better touchdown-to-interception ratio (12:5 compared to Prescott’s 11:8).
However, Prescott did slightly edge out Rush in PFSN’s QB+ metric, earning a 65.7 rating (good for 30th in the league) while Rush managed just a 60.0 (36th).
With that being said, teams don’t typically give up on their franchise quarterback just one year removed from making him the highest-paid player in NFL history. And, even if they do decide to move on, it could be hard to find a trade partner to take on the four remaining years of Prescott’s $240 million extension given his lackluster performance and subsequent injury in 2024.
Jones also doubled down on his commitment to Prescott in his interview with The Dallas Morning News as he explained the team’s decision to let Lance explore free agency.
“We took a shot at Trey and wanted to do that,” he said. “We think the world of Trey. But us having Dak signed up for the long-term, I think [Lance] is probably going to be looking for something different.”
So, with all but a guarantee that the Cowboys will take a quarterback in the draft, the only question that remains is who they’ll take — and where they’ll take him. The Cowboys have their own first-, second-, third-, fifth-, and sixth-round picks as well as three compensatory fifths and one sixth-rounder for losing Tyron Smith, Dorance Armstrong, Tyler Biadasz, and Tony Pollard in free agency last season.
Nobody has a crystal ball, but you do have PFSN’s latest mock draft — which pegs Notre Dame product Riley Leonard as the Cowboys’ choice in the sixth round.
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The 6’4″ 22-year-old put up 3,767 total yards and 38 total touchdowns in 2024 and led his Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff National Championship. Despite falling to Ohio State in that game, Leonard went 22-for-31 for 255 passing yards and two touchdowns through the air while adding 40 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Despite his production as a senior and his rushing upside, concerns about Leonard’s accuracy have him projected as the last quarterback off the board at the 190th overall pick, which based on his comments about first-round QBs, is exactly where Jones wants him. After all, the Cowboys picked Prescott himself at 135th overall back in 2016.
Following Jones’ promise to take a QB, Cowboys fans should be keeping a close eye on the NFL Draft, which kicks off on April 24 and goes until April 26.
