Cowboys bring back QB Cooper Rush on two-year contract

Cooper Rush doesn’t play often.

But he’s played enough over the past two seasons to establish his worth.

Rush will continue to serve as the Cowboys backup quarterback after agreeing to a twoyear contract, the team announced.

The deal will be worth $6 million, a person familiar with the contract said. He will receive a guarantee of $2.75 million in 2023 to continue to work behind Dak Prescott.

Rush took over after Prescott was injured in last year’s opener. He led the team to a 4-1 record as the starter and kept the team afloat until Prescott returned against Detroit in late October.

Rush finished the season completing 94 of 162 passes for 1,051 yards with five touchdown passes and three interceptions. He got rid of the ball in an average of 2.4 seconds, a quick release bettered by only Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow.

Rush has only one other start in his NFL career.

That came on the road in Minnesota during the 2021 season. He threw for 325 yards, two touchdowns and led the team on a 13play, 75-yard drive in the final three minutes for a comeback win.

That means Rush threw seven touchdown passes in his first six starts with the franchise. Tony Romo, Danny White and Craig Morton are the only quarterbacks in franchise history to surpass that total.

Poise is one of the first qualities head coach Mike Mccarthy and teammates mention when talking about Rush. It was one of the first things that

Jason Garrett, who spent nine-plus seasons as the Cowboys head coach, noticed in 2017 when the quarterback out of Central Michigan signed with Dallas.