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Why the Cowboys should avoid a late round quarterback

By Steven Mullenax

Jan 20, 2015; Mobile, AL, USA; North squad quarterback Shane Carden of East Carolina (5) left, runs through drills with fellow North quarterbacks Bryce Petty of Baylor (14) center, and Bryce Petty of Baylor (14) right, during Senior Bowl North squad practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2015; Mobile, AL, USA; North squad quarterback Shane Carden of East Carolina (5) left, runs through drills with fellow North quarterbacks Bryce Petty of Baylor (14) center, and Bryce Petty of Baylor (14) right, during Senior Bowl North squad practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports /
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Here’s why the Dallas Cowboys should avoid drafting a developmental quarterback in the later rounds of the 2016 NFL Draft.

The Dallas Cowboys coaching staff spent this week in Mobile, Alabama coaching the North team for Saturday’s Senior Bowl. It is a great opportunity for these coaches to get to know some of the top prospects heading into April’s NFL Draft. One of those positions, quarterback, is expected to be addressed by the Cowboys in the upcoming event. And here’s why.

Last season, the Cowboys went 3-1 when starting quarterback Tony Romo was under center. Unfortunately, two collarbone injuries limited the 35-year old veteran to only playing in four of the team’s scheduled 16 games last year.  In the 12 contest without Romo, the Cowboys would lose all but one.

Unable to win in 11 games with three different back-up quarterbacks is unacceptable in Dallas. Therefore, there is a big push this offseason to find a suitable back-up for Romo moving forward, and possibly the eventual heir to his throne as the Cowboys future franchise quarterback.

After posting a 4-12 record in 2015, the Cowboys dubiously earned the fourth overall selection in April’s draft. Many seem to believe this is the perfect opportunity to find a replacement quarterback for Romo. Others seem to want Dallas to look for a bridge player in free agency instead. But according to one longtime Cowboys columnist, Dallas must avoid drafting a quarterback late in the draft.

"“Not in favor of the late-round developmental QB,” responded Dallas Morning News Columnist Kevin Sherrington while responding to a chat questions on the newspaper’s website Wednesday. “We all like to talk about Romo, the FA, and Brady, the sixth-rounder, I think it was. The facts are that of the four teams in conference championship games last Sunday, three were the first picks of the draft. And what we hear is that this is a very thin draft for QBs. So this may be the Cowboys’ only shot to get a QB of this caliber. Unless we think they start to make a habit of winning four games, then maybe they could get Deshaun Watson next year.”"

Although drafting a developmental quarterback appears to be the right thing to do in Dallas simply because the player will likely have to sit behind Romo for three or four years, Sherrington is right about the talent level. Your prospect needs to possess certain intangibles first. And those are usually discovered during the evaluation process, elevating a player like Carson Wentz out of North Dakota State from virtual unknown to first round prospect.

Stories like those of Romo and Tom Brady, late round or undrafted star quarterbacks, are legendary because of how rare they are. Finding a gem like that in any draft is likely to have worse odds than winning the Powerball. The point being, you want to groom the right kind of player in Dallas. That probably means using a high draft pick to get him. Whether that this year or not, is simply up to the Cowboys.

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