Cowboys To Cut QBs Cooper Rush, Will Grier

For a bit, Dak Prescott will be the only quarterback on the Cowboys’ roster. Dallas is releasing Cooper Rush and waiving Will Grier on Tuesday, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets.

This certainly does not mean Prescott Solo will be the Cowboys’ QB plan. In fact, both Rush and Grier are expected back. Rush does not need to clear waivers to return to the Cowboys, though Grier does. The team hopes to have each back soon, Archer adds.

Teams use the annual cutdown deadline to prioritize players they do not feel are certain to pass through waivers. It appears the Cowboys are using the quarterback spot to do this, being confident they can reacquire their backups after today’s cutdown to 53. Rush was already on his second Cowboys stint, having returned after spending time with former HC Jason Garrett with the Giants.

The Cowboys already cut QB Ben DiNucci, parting ways with the third-year veteran Sunday night. It is possible all four arms will be back with Dallas, which can keep 16 players on its practice squad. It will be somewhat interesting to see how the Cowboys reacquire their reserve passers. Rush, Grier and DiNucci were each with the team, with DiNucci on the P-squad, in 2021.

Despite coming into the league as a UDFA, Rush has been Prescott’s primary backup since Tony Romo‘s retirement. Andy Dalton, however, served in that role in 2020 — the only point in which multiple starts were available during the Prescott era, due to his severe ankle injury — and Rush has primarily been a bench option throughout his career.

Rush has thrown 50 career passes. Many of those came last season, when a Prescott minor injury kept him out of a game against the Vikings. Rush led Dallas to a win in Minnesota. He and Grier were vying for the QB2 job during training camp. The latter, a 2019 Panthers third-round pick, arrived in Dallas via waiver claim last year. The West Virginia product has not played in a game since making two starts as a Carolina rookie.