The Dallas Cowboys have a lot of work to do this offseason to get better results in 2026. One position they likely won\u2019t do much with, though, is quarterback. With both Dak Prescott and Joe Milton III signed beyond next year and expected to return in the same roles, the only news at this spot may go no further than the practice squad.<\/p>\n
Dak Prescott – After what many considered a resurgent year for Prescott, the 32-year-old has as strong a grip on the starting job as ever. Even if Dallas was waffling, his contract makes it a moot point until at least 2027. But an encouragingly strong year, in which Dak stayed healthy and played his way back into some MVP discussions, offers hope going forward. He\u2019s always going to have his moments, but he was far from the reason that the Cowboys struggled last year. If anything, he was one of the few positives.<\/p>\n
Joe Milton III – With two years left on his original rookie deal, which Dallas traded a fourth-round pick to acquire last spring, Milton isn\u2019t going anywhere soon. He spent all of 2025 as the primary backup and could easily handle the same duties next year. At the very least, he\u2019ll be back to compete in training camp against whoever else the Cowboys might add. Milton\u2019s athletic gifts are undeniable, and this will be his first NFL offseason where he isn\u2019t adjusting to a new offense.<\/p>\n
Will Grier – The seventh-year veteran spent all of last season on Dallas\u2019 practice squad and as an emergency option only. He\u2019ll only be 31 after April, so there\u2019s no reason to think he couldn\u2019t return in the same capacity. He\u2019s well-liked, especially by Prescott, and must bring enough to the QB room and practice field that Dallas brought him back in 2024 after a nearly two-year break. If Grier allows Dallas to get away with only keeping two QBs on the regular 53-man roster, and at practice squad cost, he may find more work here.<\/p>\n
Well, that depends on how much they believe in Milton. A healthy season for Prescott could either be a sign of things to come or like a hot hand in Vegas. Rolling again with Milton as QB2, given Prescott\u2019s history, means you\u2019re running the big risk of him having to play meaningful snaps at some point in 2026. If you\u2019re okay with that prospect, then cool. But if you believe in this team\u2019s competitive chances next season, then do you want to leave your most important position to chance?<\/p>\n
Granted, few teams keep competing without their starting QB. But what if it\u2019s for just a few weeks, like when Prescott went down in 2022 and Cooper Rush went 4-1 as the starter? If you think Milton can win games in that scenario, then you probably do stick with him as the backup. It\u2019s reasonable given that this will only be his third year and his first with some system and coaching consistency.<\/p>\n
Still, Milton hasn\u2019t shown enough that Dallas should just ignore opportunities to improve their depth. The projected crop of veteran free agents includes guys like Tyrod Taylor and Marcus Mariota, who would easily raise the bar over Will Grier and could push Milton for the backup job. The Cowboys will also likely have six Day 3 draft picks in April, so you never know what could happen if the right prospect falls into the later rounds.<\/p>\n
Having given up a fourth last year to add Milton, Dallas no doubt sees him as their current developmental prospect. But after a year of observation, only they know how much upside they still see in him. That will be the driving factor in their offseason decisions at quarterback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys have a lot of work to do this offseason to get better results in 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,438,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-687479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys-roster","12":"tag-dallascowboys","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115918811228696312","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}