Jerry Jones willing to take risk on a young quarterback currently on another team
BY CHAREAN WILLIAMS
cjwilliams@star-telegram.com
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wouldn’t rule out adding a veteran backup currently on another team.
On his weekly radio show, Jones was asked about “young backup quarterbacks available this off-season who come with some risk.”
Speculation has former first-round quarterbacks Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III being available this off-season, and Jones long has had an infatuation with Manziel.
“Let’s just put it like this: We all would be aware that to bet on [Kellen] Moore for our backup quarterback has elements of risk to it,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “I’m not so sure that that’s any riskier than anything you would do with a decision in the future. On the other hand, what would enhance me taking risk is a big bigger upside. If that upside is there, that ol’ risk-reward situation, then yeah. This is as far as we’re going to go here now with this, because I don’t want to get involved in any type of tampering situation. We’d take some risk.”
Jones repeatedly has said the team will look at all avenues in an attempt to upgrade the position behind Tony Romo. They went 1-11 this season with three backup quarterbacks.
Manziel already has been linked with the Cowboys with Peter King of Sports Illustrated reporting this week that the Browns are done with Manziel, who “wants to go to Dallas.”
After yet another misadventure by Manziel over the weekend – going AWOL while reportedly partying in Las Vegas – the Browns are expected to move on from the former Heisman Trophy winner.
Jones nearly made Manziel a Cowboy during the 2014 draft. The Cowboys had the former Texas A&M star sixth on their draft board.
But Jones was talked out of it by others in the team’s war room, and the Cowboys selected guard Zack Martin with the 16th overall pick. Martin already twice has made the Pro Bowl.
Manziel, the 22nd choice in 2014, has made more headlines off the field than on in his two seasons in Cleveland. In eight starts, he has posted a 2-6 record with a 57 percent completion percentage, seven touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 74.4 rating. He ended both seasons with injuries and as a no-show for rehab.