It's time for the Cowboys to find the next Tony Romo.
No, not the Tony Romo who went to four Pro Bowls and won an NFL passing title in 2014. That was the finished-product Tony Romo. The Cowboys are hoping they've already found that guy in Dak Prescott.
It's time for the Cowboys to find another unfinished Tony Romo — the undrafted college free agent signed in 2003 who spent three years in a quarterbacking incubator watching and learning how the position should be played.
It's time for the Cowboys to invest in another project worth developing.
Which is why Cooper Rush intrigues me.
During the years I spent researching the draft as the NFL columnist for this newspaper, I learned several position traits that the pros find attractive.
Left tackle is all about arm length. The longer the arms, the easier to steer speed rushers. Blockers with short arms get moved inside to guard.
On both sides of the ball, interior linemen with wrestling backgrounds are safe investments because of their hand and foot speed.
Hand size is important for wide receivers. The bigger the hands, the more secure the hands.
Quarterbacks who started four years in college and threw at least 1,300 career passes are worthy of long looks because they already have been exposed to everything the college game has to offer. It's a much smaller step from NCAA Saturdays to NFL Sundays for them.
Cooper Rush fits that profile. The Cowboys signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Central Michigan, where he was a four-year starter who threw 1,648 passes. He started 50 games and passed for 12,891 yards and 90 touchdowns. He sits ahead of NFLers Ben Roethlisberger, Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich on the all-time Mid-American Conference passing list.
Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers, Carson Palmer and Andy Dalton were four-year starters in college who threw more than 1,300 career passes. All five have been to the Pro Bowl, and Manning and Wilson have won Super Bowls. Manning, Wilson and Rivers have won NFL passing titles.
Drew Brees, Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Matt Ryan and Derek Carr were three-year starters who threw more than 1,300 college passes. All have been to the Pro Bowl. Brees, Roethlisberger and Manning have won Super Bowls, and Ryan took his team to a Super Bowl. Brees and Ryan have been NFL MVPs and have won passing titles.
But four years as a college starter do not guarantee success. Kyle Boller, David Greene and Brady Quinn are proof of that. Neither does that 1,300-pass minimum. Chad Henne, Kevin Kolb and Chris Redman are proof of that.
Fewer starts and fewer passes do not doom a quarterback, either. Romo (941 college passes), Tom Brady (710) and Aaron Rodgers (665) are proof of that. But they spent time in that quarterbacking incubator before ever hitting an NFL field. Brady sat for a year, and Rodgers and Romo three years apiece. They were exposed to defensive trickery on NFL tape that they never saw on college game fields.
Which brings us back to Rush. His talent may be worth the patience, worth the wait.
Rush does not arrive in Dallas from a "power five" conference. The MAC will never be confused with the Big Ten. But this is a conference that has produced Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Khalil Mack, Eric Fisher and Corey Davis. Fisher was the first overall pick of the 2013 NFL draft and Davis the fifth overall pick of the 2017 draft.
Rush has been exposed to power five competition, though. He started against Michigan State, Minnesota and Purdue from the Big Ten, Kansas and Oklahoma State from the Big 12, and North Carolina State, Syracuse and Virginia from the Atlantic Coast Conference. He passed for 430 yards against Syracuse, 402 yards against Virginia, and 368 yards and four touchdowns in a stunning road upset of No. 11 Oklahoma State in 2016.
But it was the 2014 Bahamas Bowl that probably punched his ticket to the NFL. Rush completed 28 of 45 passes for 493 yards and an NCAA bowl-record seven touchdowns in a 49-48 loss to Western Kentucky. He showed more than his arm in that game. He showed his competitiveness and leadership, rallying his team from a 49-14 fourth-quarter deficit with 34 points in a wildly entertaining game.
"Pressure brings out the best in Cooper," said Central Michigan coach John Bonamego, who spent 16 seasons in the NFL coaching special teams before returning to his alma mater in 2015. "Look at him in the fourth quarter. Look at him in Hail Mary situations. When the game is on the line, he finds a way. I would never count him out any time at anything."
Will Rush be the next Tony Romo? Who knows, but his quarterbacking profile says he's worth a look, and his talent may be worth the wait.
