Cowboys Will Grier gets a boost from new NFL rule, but QB2 should be his goal

The Cowboys backup QB situations seems settled, but Will Grier is still trying to work his way up.

Recently the NFL made a rule change that had the backups to the backup QBs shouting with joy. The new rule states that teams can designate an emergency quarterback from their 53-man roster for game day, and that player doesn’t count against the active limit of 46. This means a lot of third-string QBs will be on 53-man rosters and will get to suit up on game day. It’s unlikely they will ever play, but it could happen, just ask the San Francisco 49ers.

The Dallas Cowboys current third-string QB, Will Grier, obviously liked the change.

“I mean, I love it,” Grier said. “I think it’s smart. Quarterback is a different position. A guy can’t just jump in and play quarterback. In this league, I think you need three guys that can play.”

“I think the rule is smart and everybody agrees after what we saw last year that you need that.”

The interesting thing for Grier is that at a point last year in training camp, he was making a push to be the second-string quarterback for Dallas instead of the third. There was a real debate going on about whether he was going to beat out Cooper Rush for the job, and there was a time he was thought to be in the lead for the spot. Then injury hit.

“I built a lot of momentum through camp last year, but I feel like I’m way ahead of where I was last year at this time, mentally and physically,” he said. “I was dealing with stuff last year going into camp, but I was still able to build some momentum. I just gotta build off that and continue to master the offense.”

Grier lost the competition, with the injury sealing his fate, and Rush went on to become a cult hero for the fanbase after going 4-1 in Dak Prescott’s absence during the early part of the 2022 season. It’s hard to beat out experience like that, so the expectation is that Rush will be the easy backup choice for Prescott. After all, the Cowboys re-signed Rush for a roughly $2 million cap hit this season.

But should we be writing Grier off so easily? Kellen Moore and Cooper Rush had history together, giving Rush some advantage, but Moore is now gone.

“Dak and Cooper have been here so long, the offense is second-nature to those guys,” he said. “I’ve always been playing catch-up to know it as well as they know it and just process as fast as possible. I feel good, I feel healthy. I’m spinning the ball really well, moving well. Need to get to the highest level of mastery that I can.”

With Mike McCarthy taking over, Grier’s skillset could be a nice fit for the new offense. The Cowboys could still keep Rush and his $2 million cap hit, using him as the third QB if Grier takes off in training camp and preseason games like he was doing last year. It feels like Rush has it on lock for QB2 because of that 4-1 record last year, but we’ve seen things change on the depth chart before once training camp and preseason arrive.

So over to you BTB, should we be writing off Grier so soon? Do you think he will provide real competition for Cooper Rush in training camp?