Dak Prescott is obviously out for the season with his brutal ankle injury, and speculation immediately turned to his future with the Cowboys due to the fact that he’s set to be a free agent at the end of the year. Prescott and the front office have been in a stalemate over his contract for a while, and the injury only further complicates things. Despite the lack of commitment, team VP Stephen Jones emphatically shot down any talk of parting ways during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan on Monday, via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He’s our future. He’s special. If anyone can overcome anything, it would be Dak,” Jerry’s son said when asked if anything had changed in regard to Prescott being their quarterback of the future. Of course there’s not much else Jones could say the day after such a serious injury, but the strength of the assertion is still notable. The Cowboys certainly don’t seem like they have any intention of letting Prescott leave town, although of course a lot could change between now and next season. Meanwhile Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that a source told him last night that Prescott’s surgery went “very well,” and was performed by the highly regarded foot and ankle doctor Gene Curry, who was brought in by the team’s orthopedist.
Here’s more from the league’s eastern divisions:
- While things may seem pretty bleak for the Cowboys right now with their mounting injuries, we do have a dash of good news to pass along. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, who broke his collarbone in the team’s opening loss to the Rams, appears to be nearing a return, according to Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Vander Esch has apparently been ramping up his activity, and returned to padded practice late last week. The initial timeframe on his injury was 6-8 weeks, and Hill writes that head coach Mike McCarthy says he’s ahead of schedule. It sounds like Vander Esch has a chance to return for Dallas’ upcoming Monday Night Football game against the Cardinals, and their struggling defense could certainly use him.
- The Jets are now 0-5 on the year, and after watching two of his fellow winless head coaches get canned, it looks like Adam Gase is considering major changes. At his presser Monday Gase said he has “toyed” with the idea of giving up play-calling responsibilities on offense, and that “everything is on the table at this point,” via Connor Hughes of The Athletic (Twitter link). Running backs coach Jim Bob Cooter, who was the Lions’ offensive coordinator recently, and OC Dowell Loggains would be the natural candidates to hand off to. Gase has always called the plays during his head coaching career, so this would be a huge change for him.
- Jets pass-catchers have been dropping like flies this season, and another one is about to hit the shelf. Gase revealed during the same presser that Chris Hogan suffered a high ankle sprain on Sunday and will be out for a while, Brian Costello of the New York Post tweets. The former Patriots deep threat is in his first season with New York and has been playing an increased role due to all the injuries. He’s had at least three catches in each of the past two weeks and had six for 75 yards back in Week 2. Fortunately for the Jets, they should be getting fellow receiver Breshad Perriman back soon from his own ankle injury.
Bummer for Dak. Get well! Now that we need a backup QB how bout kaepernick?
Nope. Dude has been out of the league for 4 years. Give it up. Please, move on.
Aldon Smith was out of the league for 4 years and he’s one of their better pass rushers this year.
Some team is going to finally show guts and sign him as a backup. And they will be rewarded for it.
There’s a difference between Aldon smith and Kaepernick. One is good, the other is not. Stop fooling yourself into thinking he could still play
The only evidence you’ve cited is… name calling?
Lol where did I call anyone a name? If you honestly think Kap should still be in the league four years later, I truly can’t help you
Mea culpa, you used fool as a verb, not a noun.
And is your only argument that Kaepernick doesn’t belong in the league that he hasn’t been in the league for non-football reasons? That’s self-fulfilling blackballing. Because Blaine Gabbert is still in the league from the same draft class and he’s never been good as a pro. Blake Bortles has never been good as a pro and can still get work. Chad f’ing Henne still has a job.
There is a massive difference between Aldon Smith’s career trajectory after three years and Colin Kaepernick’s. Blackballing or whatever you believe to be the actual reason aside, Smith was willing to sign for the minimum and receive no guarantees with no press, none of which Kaepernick has demonstrated a willingness to do.
Considering the fact that he passed for a whopping four yards in his last major action (against the Bears four years ago), has never thrown more than twenty touchdowns (only doing so once) despite leading an accomplished playoff team, and has turned down prove-it offers from multiple sources (XFL, AAFL, and the Broncos’ attempt to do a sign and trade after he opted out of his deal), the only reasons TO sign him are non-football related. There are other options who are more experienced (or conversely have more upside and are younger, if that’s what you want) and certainly are cheaper. There’s a list of reasons for you. Can we finally put this to rest now, and move into a football discussion instead of rehashing old news again? Or are we going to do Tebow next?
Dalton is a starting caliber quarterback, and better than at least what fifteen teams are offering (or at least equivalent to their starters for argument’s sake). The Cowboys will be fine. Not as good as having their actual starter who spent years in the offense and building a relationship with the players, but they’ll be fine.
Oh, Dalton is certainly a better starting candidate than Kaepernick is right now. I didn’t say otherwise and wouldn’t have. You also quizzically contradict yourself: Has he never thrown more than 20 touchdowns or has he done it once? He’s also thrown 19 once, and his TD/INT ratio is very good generally, if you feel like looking at more than one stat. And it’s still self-fulfilling blackballing. The reason he isn’t extremely qualified for a job is that he’s been artificially denied one. The offers you mentioned come on the heels of times when he wasn’t offered one–or a competitive one–that anyone else would have gotten, as evidenced by the vastly worse QBs who’ve hung on.
It doesn’t matter what fans think the nfl owners and GM’s are not signing kapernick at this time . I have a feeling they don’t care if any of us agree or disagree with their decisions for whatever reasons they have
Andy Dalton is the backup curious to see how that turns out
Yeah Jerry world how about that no pressure to start him look like. Hero in Trump police state be a HERO ‼️
talking Capenik
Chun …Garrett Gilbert just signed as backup qb for Cowboys
This is how it will play out. Dalton leads the Cowboys to the Super Bowl. Gets a contract extension in the off-season. They let Dak go so McCarthy can pick his future QB. Dak goes to either the Falcons, Eagles, Dolphins or Jets.
Rivers looks close to done. The Colts are too good to draft a top QB prospect. I don’t think Dak is leaving Dallas, but Indy could be a great fit.
Agreed. I think Rivers is done after this year. Sad to see.
The only question for Indy is whether they draft a young QB and possibly hang on to Rivers for another year (or Brissett, if he accepts it) or tries a trade for one of the young talents that has disappointed so far (either because of their team or their own play). There are more than usual who could be available: Darnold, Haskins, Rosen are possibilities (though Rosen obviously could be readily signed right now). Jamieis Winston will likely be available, though that would be a controversial signing.
A more shocking possibility would be Drew Lock. I know, I know, but Lock has struggled since his strong debut and if Denver is bad enough down the stretch to grab a good QB, there may be a chance for him to be dealt. I don’t really see that happening, but you never know.
Of course, Matt Ryan will likely be available soon, but considering that’s essentially what Indy just did with Rivers (despite Ryan’s stronger recent play), I doubt it. Green Bay will rod itself of Rodgers soon, but they’re playing too well now for that to be an immediate possibility. As far as older starters who might have two or three seasons left go, Dalton, Newton, and Stafford might be up for grabs. There are really a lot of options to go with-the Colts just need to decide if they want to extend their window currently or try to reload for the next few years.
I support Gase giving up play calling duties, but it also shines a light on the problem: What exactly has Gase shown he’s qualified to do well?
He took directions from Peyton manning extremely well
And Peyton hasn’t stopped returning the favor.
Bingo!
Jerry Jones has always been loyal to his QBs but trading up for Lawrence and saving $200M over 5 yrs on Dak has to be pretty tempting.
That’s not really a plausible option, though.
How is that not an option? It’ll be a sizable draft capital to make the move but definitely plausible.
First of all, it seems unlikely the Cowboys will be *bad* with Dalton, unless he gets hurt too or the line falls apart even worse. At worst, what are they, a 7-9 team? So their pick will be middle of the first round if not later.
Second, odds are pretty good that whoever gets the number one pick will take Lawrence. Jets, WFT, Jacksonville. If any of those teams finishes with the worst record in football, you assume any of them is taking him. If the Giants finish that badly, they probably do too with a new GM. Falcons might too.
If a team that’s really too committed to their QB to take Lawrence doesn’t get the number one overall pick and wants to trade down, that team could presumably get an offer of two first round picks (the latter of which would beat the Cowboys pick) from either the Jets or Jaguars.
So even if the Cowboys wanted to trade up for Lawrence, they would have competition it’s almost impossible for them to outbid.
*there’s a doesn’t that should be a does in there, but I think you can tell what I mean.
Lawrence will be worth a lot more than two ones. Get a bidding war between two or more teams. Use those picks to fill in holes then get your QB. Have your OL set with a couple weapons and the D.
I would also trade Darnold and sign Tyrod Taylor to be the QB for a couple years. Depending on how Tyrod plays maybe sit the new QB for half the season. Trading those two could set your team up for years.
And then you’d just have to answer the biggest question in building a team? Where are you getting your QB in that scenario? And what if you miss on some of those picks and Lawrence is great? Set aside merit–you’re begging to get fired if you take that risk as a GM. If you have a shot at a generational QB prospect and no good answer at QB, you have to take him. Full stop. And the Taylor ship has sailed. He’s only been full blown good working with Greg Roman, and even then, he’s far from a franchise guy.
Also, this all goes back to the Dallas thing: it ain’t gonna happen. Every team that isn’t top five right now seems to want their team to tank. That doesn’t really work.