Cowboys 2023 offseason position breakdown series: Quarterback

The Position Breakdown Series is taking every position group for the Dallas Cowboys and looking at the players, their rankings, contract numbers and predicting the upcoming season for each player.

This edition is looking at the quarterback position for Dallas, so let’s get straight to it.

QB1

Dak Prescott #4
Age: 29
Experience: 8 years
College: Mississippi State

2022 Stats:

Total Snaps- 950
Attempts- 394
Completions- 261
Completion %- 66.2
Yards- 2860
Touchdowns- 23
Interceptions- 15
Sacks- 20
First Downs- 142
Quarterback Rating- 91.1

2023 Contract:

Cap Cost- $26,832,647 (11% Total Cap)
Dead Cap- $89,070,000
Base Salary- $1,700,000
Signing Bonus- $13,200,000

2023 Projection:

Mike - One thing that has always been a strength of Dak’s game has been his ability to take care of the football. The biggest negative of last season’s performance by Dak was his interception problem. His interception rate last year was 3.8% and that is bad, but in previous years he barely got over 2%. The anomaly can be put down to a number reasons, let’s start with the thumb injury Week 1. We have no clue how much his thumb was bothering him when he returned and how much soreness he had, and how long into the season that lasted. Another reason for the high interception rate we can connect to his time away from the team in terms of chemistry. By not playing with his receivers and resting his hand meant he had to reestablish a connection and get back into rhythm. The final part is play-calling. Not in terms of bad play-calling as such but there never seemed to be easy plays early in games to help get Dak settled in which meant many early three and outs at the start of games. These things will hopefully not be a factor for Dak this season, so there should be an expectation for his interceptions to regress back to a normal rate.

If anything can pour cold water on Dak having a good season this year it will be his offensive line. With some questions on the line, we have to trust the system and hope this coaching staff have plenty of contingency plans or know exactly the look they are going for with their best five. With the addition of Brandin Cooks to the wide receiver corps it should make for an entertaining year for Dak. His total passing yards will look low, but my prediction is this will be due to the Cowboys defense keeping the score down and the offense playing possession football more. Let’s get Dak some more rushing yards and a few sneaky redzone rushing touchdowns. But let’s go with over 30 passing touchdowns for Dak and less than ten interceptions.

Tom - It all depends on his health and the offensive play-calling. Mike McCarthy is, of course, very familiar with him now after three seasons, and he and Brian Schottenheimer should have no problem getting a ton of production out of him, especially with the additions of Brandin Cooks and Luke Schoonmaker. In reality, the way the new-look running back room is utilized may be more important than what they dial up for QB1. Pass protection also has to hold up, although Prescott is quite effective at dealing with pressure. I’m thinking he passes for around 3,700 yards in sixteen games, anticipating that the playoff spot is locked down by week 18 and he will sit that one out. The interceptions should be cut to about ten, especially if the play designs and execution give him cleaner looks. TDs should go up nicely with the extra games, around 34 I’ll guess. This offense is going to go as he goes, and that is not a bad situation to be in at all.

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

QB2

Cooper Rush #10
Age: 29
Experience: 6 years
College: Central Michigan

2022 Stats:

Total Snaps- 341
Attempts- 162
Completions- 94
Completion %- 58.0
Yards- 1051
Touchdowns- 5
Interceptions- 3
Sacks- 7
First Downs- 52
Quarterback Rating- 80

2023 Contract:

Cap Cost- $2,125,000 (0.9% Total Cap)
Dead Cap- $2,750,000
Base Salary- $1,500,000
Signing Bonus- $625,000

2023 Projection:

Mike - Predicting your backup QB’s production I think is both tempting fate and giving an expectation for your QB1 to have failed or get injured. Rush has proven last year that when he’s needed in those dark times he will help the team to not lose games, so to have kept him for another season is a plus for team confidence. His expectation is to come in on those blowout games which happen a couple times a season and make sure that the clock winds down to zero.

Tom - He should only have about 250 to 300 yards passing this year in relief. That will be more than enough. He is one of the better backup QBs in the league, with invaluable experience gained in leading the team to the 4-1 record in Prescott’s absence last fall. Just enjoy life, Cooper. It is one of the easiest ways to earn a paycheck in all professional sports.

Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

QB3

Will Grier #15
Age: 28
Experience: 5 years
College: West Virginia

2022 Stats:

Total Snaps- 0

2023 Contract:

Cap Cost- $1,080,000 (0.5% Total Cap)
Dead Cap- $0
Base Salary- $1,080,000
Signing Bonus- $0

2023 Projection:

Mike - I don’t think any player was happier when they heard the new rule change on QB3. Grier has a lot going for him and this new rule means he gets to be game dressed and learning even more on the sideline. The fact he’s more closely matched as a QB to Dak than what Rush is also is a plus as this keeps game planning on offense easier if he was ever needed to play. The real question though is can he make a push to the backup role this offseason, something he was close to doing last year.

Tom - The new rule on emergency quarterbacks will have him holding a tablet on the sidelines all year. Maybe he’ll get a quarter or two of work in the last game. Otherwise, we hope we never see him on the field when the game is on the line.