Dallas Cowboys Hint At Going Quarterback Early In 2016 Draft

Nov 26, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) is injured after a sack by the Carolina Panthers during the third quarter of a NFL game on Thanksgiving at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

If there is one lesson that has emerged from the 2015 season for the Dallas Cowboys, it’s that there is no such thing as too many good players at one position.  They learned this the hard way after Tony Romo went down with his broken collar bone injury, forcing the team to try a multitude of backups including Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore.  None of which could stop their slide to irrelevance in the NFC East.

Now they face an uncertain future with Romo and his health, leaving owner Jerry Jones to accept the reality of what this team must do in order to keep their Super Bowl hopes from drowning in talks of a rebuild.  The biggest step is ending the string of years without taking a quarterback early in the draft.

"“It’s obviously going to be a high priority for us, the backup situation, as it relates to not only being able to come in and do better than we did this year, but whatever way, whatever we do, do better, but we’re looking to our future,” Jones said, via ESPN.com. “That’s as big a thing for me.”Jones added that it’s important to balance finding an upgrade at backup quarterback with their future plans.“We’re going to try to all the ways – all ways – to come up with a way to get Tony a backup, while at the same time looking toward the future,” Jones said. “Some people would say that’s dreaming. Everybody wants that, but we have a high draft pick, obviously. We’ve earned it, and we’ve got it. If we evaluate and get an opportunity to get a couple of players there, we got to look at it hard.”"

In truth this is something Jones has wanted to do the past couple years.  Word was he grew infatuated with Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel during the 2014 draft but was convinced not to take him in favor of Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin.  This time around he’s likely to get his way what with the Cowboys owning the 4th overall pick in 2016 with one game to play.

That puts them in prime position to get one of the top quarterbacks available, be it Paxton Lynch of Memphis or Jared Goff of Cal.  If ever there was a time to think beyond the Tony Romo era, this would be it.