News: BTB: Don't Let Cowboys Convince You That They Are Set At Backup Quarterback

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We've been seeing a lot of young guys get reps but don't be convinced that the Dallas Cowboys are just fine at backup quarterback.

We've seen the Cowboys do a multitude of things with their backup quarterback situation over the Tony Romo tenure. They've brought in the wily veterans such as Brad Johnson and Jon Kitna. They've also spent decent resources on guys like Kyle Orton and Matt Cassel. They've even sought after guys that didn't pan out with their respective clubs like Brandon Weeden. This season they were willing to roll the dice with a former Scott Linehan guy in Kellen Moore as their backup, and the dice came up against them.

I've long been against playing with fire by keeping Kellen Moore as the QB2. That is simply because I'm not convinced, if not for Linehan, Moore is any more than a QB3 on any team in the NFL. I've never understood the obsession with the lefty from Boise. Sure, he was wonderful in college but as we must do with the Tebowmaniacs, we must also say unto the Mooreheads, what has he done in the NFL? College doesn't matter anymore, it is about what he does in the NFL. I see a guy who threw for over 400 yards in a game that hardly mattered to anyone. That's about it.

The Cowboys weren't necessarily "all-in" on grabbing Nick Foles once the unfortunate news of Moore's injury broke, but they definitely had an increased interest level in him. The fact that he instead went to Kansas City has some to do with Andy Reid but probably has something to do with more money as well. After their top guy was gone, they shifted focus to Josh McCown, another wily veteran type who also ended his season with a broken clavicle. Once the price seemed high, and only then, the Cowboys came back out and assured us they were in "no rush to sign a backup."

That's not a terrible idea on the surface as they really need to see what they have in Jameill Showers and Dak Prescott. Both of those guys have been getting plenty of reps with or without Tony Romo in the fold as the Cowboys have shown to be very deliberate with their veteran stars this offseason. However, do not allow yourself to be convinced that this team is okay at backup quarterback.

It took them a while to get on the same page because Coach Garrett was saying "we're always looking", Stephen was saying "we've got to get this right", and Jerry's been saying "we're just fine." Now everyone is slowing their roll on the subject and that's well and good in week two of training camp.

What's worrisome is that these coaches and front office personnel may convince themselves that they can roll with Prescott and Showers. That's something we have to prepare for and it doesn't sit very well at the moment. I preface that by saying Dak Prescott is my pet cat, I mocked him so many times to this team that he's practically my pick but he's still on a steep learning curve.

There are those in the mindset that says "Well if Tony goes down, this team is junk anyways. Might as well let the young guys get reps." That's all understood but reality is that if Tony Romo does go down, people are likely to be unemployed when the season begins in 2017. They cannot just chalk it up to Romo being absent again, that will not be an excuse that keeps this entire staff together. This team has to be competitive in 2016, nobody cares about their injury woes, this is the NFL.

The Dallas Cowboys are telling us all that last year was an anomaly due to unfortunate circumstances that were out of their control. That's something that pretty much all of us have bought. Reality states that this is a team with a 36-year-old quarterback and two guys behind him with zero NFL experience. That's something that should not be sold to any Cowboys fan. At some point, the hope is that they will find a veteran passer that can serve a purpose for them if the worst cases come to fruition. They just might have to cough up some resources to do so but that's better than another lost season and a lot of change coming in the next year.

As previously mentioned, it's not a big deal right now to be giving those reps to young guys. Still, if they want one of their young guys to win the job, at least get them some competition. I just don't buy that you're all for Kellen Moore until he gets hurt and now a veteran presence doesn't matter. If this is some way of trying to push that idea further to convince anyone that they can roll the dice again, they are as wrong as they could ever be.

We're all for the youth movement and the NFL is a young man's game but it's important to have reassurance that what happened last season won't happen again. What that is going to take is a believable insurance policy behind Tony Romo and not two guys who have been playing against makeshift defensive lines in practice. It just seems a little too risky to not address the situation at all when people's jobs will be on the line. Then again, the Cowboys have made a habit of risky moves this offseason, what's one more?

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