When the 2016 NFL season started, Kellen Moore was supposed to be the backup quarterback to Tony Romo while rookie Dak Prescott was just looking to attract some notice. Romo and Moore both fell to injury in the preseason and Prescott won the Dallas Cowboys starting job and had one of the best rookie campaigns of any quarterback in years.
Heading into the 2017 NFL season, Dak Prescott is the starter and Kellen Moore was supposed to be his backup. However, an undrafted rookie named Cooper Rush did enough in preseason to earn the backup role behind Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys will waive Moore this week.
Cooper Rush
Cooper Rush had a great preseason for the Dallas Cowboys. He completed 38 of 51 passes for 398 yards with six touchdowns. Rush also impressed Cowboys coaches by not throwing an interception. He did so well in the preseason games that he ended up working with the second team for the final two weeks of training camp.
To catch Dallas Cowboys fans up, Cooper Rush played in college for the Central Michigan Chippewas. In four years, Rush threw for a combined 12,891 yards and 90 touchdowns. He also had 55 interceptions and completed 62 percent of his passes.
Cooper Rush was a second-team All-MAC player in his junior season when he broke the Central Michigan record for passing yards in a season.
He also was a third-team All-MAC player in his senior season when he finished with the second most passing yards in MAC history behind only Dan LeFevour.
Cooper Rush led Central Michigan to three straight bowl appearances but lost all three games.
What about Kellen Moore?
According to ESPN, Kellen Moore is eligible to move to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad.
However, there is a good chance that the Cowboys could bring him back to the main squad by Sunday as an emergency third string quarterback. In the preseason, Moore completed 32 of 59 passes (54 percent) for 392 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Outside the the six touchdowns that Cooper Rush threw and the one sole interception, the numbers looked similar.
While the Cowboys might feel safe trusting a rookie after Dak Prescott shocked the world last year, Kellen Moore still knows the offense better than almost anyone with the Dallas Cowboys.
Kellen Moore started the final two games of 2015, throwing for 779 yards and four touchdowns with six interceptions in parts of three games. Moore also played with the Detroit Lions when Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Lineman was there.
