The silver lining to Dak Prescott’s current shoulder injury and absence from practice

Let the backup quarterback evaluation begin!

It’s less than ideal Dak Prescott is currently practicing on a limited basis due to a muscle strain in his right shoulder. It’s an injury that should remedy itself with a little rest, but in the meantime the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback is out of commission for an unspecified amount of time, at least when it come to actually throwing passes. His backups now have an opportunity to shine during his absence.

Believe it or not, but Dak Prescott’s shoulder injury could actually be a blessing in disguise. As someone who always tries to find the silver lining in things, Dak’s absence from practice gives Mike McCarthy and his coaching staff the opportunity to further evaluate the backup quarterback position to determine what the best course of action is for the 2021 season.

As things stand right now Garrett Gilbert, Cooper Rush, and Ben DiNucci are all competing to be the next man up behind No. 4 this year. Garrett Gilbert currently seems to be the favored QB2, however, he’s not only competing with Rush and DiNucci, but other free agent quarterbacks who are sitting at home looking for an opportunity to play this season.

With Dak out of the picture for now, Dallas’ current stable of QBs will be receiving more practice time than they normally would have. This is the perfect opportunity to further evaluate the position and determine the best course of action to take for the 2021 season, which will be here before we know it. The time is now to figure out what’s best moving forward.

Do the Dallas Cowboys stick with the status quo or look for outside help?

It’s doubtful the Cowboys will we make any drastic moves at QB right now. They will more than likely keep a watchful eye on things and then act accordingly based on what they see in practice and review on film. If they don’t like what they see though, or believe they can upgrade the position, there are some outside options available.

Brett Hundley, who previously played for Mike McCarthy in Green Bay, is someone the Cowboys have kicked the tires on already this offseason. He could be someone they may show an interest in again. Other QBs who might make also sense are Blake Bortles, Josh McCowan, and Robert Griffin III, all of which have more experience than Dallas’ current options.

This could be a situation with monitoring over the next few days, possibly weeks, while Dak Prescott’s right shoulder strain is closely monitored. This is an opportunity the Dallas Cowboys should take full advantage of, because you never know what will happen once the season gets underway and having the best Plan B already in place would be wise. After all, it should be fresh on everyone’s mind after what happened last year.