The Cowboys brought in a pair of young free agent quarterbacks for tryouts this past week, but it doesn’t sound like either will be getting a contract.
Dallas is not planning on signing either J.T. Barrett or Brady Davis as of right now, veteran beat writer Clarence Hill Jr. tweets. Hill writes they had “less than stellar showings” at the team’s rookie minicamp. Barrett, of course, is well known to college football fans for his long tenure under center at Ohio State. He set many records for the Buckeyes, and was a three-time first-team All-Big Ten honoree.
He’s bounced around practice squads and offseason rosters since going undrafted in 2018. The Cowboys currently don’t have much behind Dak Prescott on the depth chart after Andy Dalton left in free agency, so they may continue kicking the tires on veteran backup options.
As of right now, former AAF star Garrett Gilbert would seem to be the favorite to hold Prescott’s clipboard. Davis is a 2020 UDFA from Illinois State.
So much for those Super Bowl aspirations…..
The Cowboys better get a legitimate back up QB. Daks ankle will have a HUGE bounty on it.
Gilbert did well in his only start, considering he played with limited practice and against a tough PIT defense (especially their pass rush). I wish he would’ve gotten to play another game or two so they could figure out if he was really a capable back up. They must feel comfortable with him though since they haven’t brought in any other vets. DiNucci looked awful in his limited showings, but who knows. I do like that they didn’t spend a ton on a backup QB and tried to address some other areas.
In all fairness, that horrible gameplan they crafted for DiNucci would’ve led to any QB failing after 2-3 whole practices under their belts NOT running a scout team. No rookie mini camp, no offseason workouts, no preseason games and zero practices running the Cowboys plays with the 1s/2s was too much. Add in the idiotic gimmick play after gimmick play was a recipe for disaster. They should gotten him into it going by having Zeke running the ball and then some quick passes.
No money left to spend on a backup after meeting Dak’s asking price. Dallas better hope he stays healthy!
Exactly, they are telling player after player that they don’t have any salary cap room left.
At what point does an UDFA QB who graduated in 2017 give up his dreams of playing in the NFL? OSU simply just cannot produce a competent NFL quarterback.
It’s too bad in Barrett’s case, though, as he was the best of them and seems like a good guy and a hard worker. Perhaps he can latch on as a coaching intern somewhere to remain connected to the game.
Has Ohio State produced a NFL worthy QB since Art Schlichter in the 1980’s (and we can even question his worthiness)?
joe burrow 🙂
Wow….haven’t heard Art’s name mentioned in an awfully long time. I’m old enough to remember the hype surrounding him coming out of college and his very short career coming to an end because of his gambling problems. Wonder what he’s up to these days??
Barrett will be incredible in coaching if he ever chooses to go that route. He’s smart and he’s made the most of his talent. But even at Ohio State, it seemed pretty obvious that he isn’t an NFL-caliber quarterback.
Michael Chaney –
Just curious, and not trying to be a jerk, but how have you made that assessment? Do you know him personally or have you seen him mentor other players? Again, just wondering…
This seems like a really passive aggressive comment so I don’t think you’re actually curious. I never said anything about him being a mentor (just that he’d be a great coach), so you’re kind of stretching here. I don’t see the issue.
But if you watched Ohio State games during his time there, it was pretty obvious that a) he knew how to make the most of his talent and b) that he still wasn’t NFL-caliber.
He’s not overly athletic, he doesn’t have elite traits, and his arm probably limited the offense more than anything just based on how the offense was more of a quick pass/ball control system with him and much more wide open when Cardale Jones would play. But they won with him and he’s still managed to stay on the radar of teams if even as just a camp arm.
Guys with physical limitations that carve out successful careers (and being a fringe NFL arm is still better than 99.8% of guys that play quarterback) are usually the ones that make the best coaches because they need intangibles like intelligence, leadership, work ethic, etc. to make up for their talent deficiency, i.e. that they make the most of the talents they do have. Why do you think so many MLB managers are backup catchers?
Right….
And by the way, if you’re a coach or helping others out, you’re a mentor. Not sure why you would take offense to someone using that term
Also, are you suggesting that ANY college QB who did well in college football but isn’t NFL material would make a great coach and must be smart?
Interesting logic.
Urban Meyer has gone on record saying that Barrett has a future in coaching if he ever decided to go that route. I’m not really going out on a limb here.
I genuinely have no idea what point you’re trying to prove, but I hope it worked for you. You seem to care a lot about a random commenter saying that a player could be a good coach in the future.