Dallas Cowboys Getting Kellen Moore Ready To Start

The Dallas Cowboys might soon be starting their fourth different quarterback for the season.

For most NFL teams, if you are sitting on a 4-9 record, then you start looking towards the future. For the Dallas Cowboys, they’re still thinking about the playoffs. That’s the benefit of being in a very weak division, where the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and Philadelphia Eagles are tied for the lead with 6-7 records.

Since they are not mathematically eliminated from the NFL Playoffs yet, the Dallas Cowboys must look towards the present and not the future. This would normally be the point in the season where head coach Jason Garrett and his coaching staff would lean on younger players to see who they want to keep around next season.

A player on their watch list is backup quarterback Kellen Moore. It is hard for the Dallas Cowboys to truly gauge how good the former Boise State Broncos star is because he has yet to take a snap during a regular season NFL game. All the coaching staff has seen is his work with the scout team during practice.

That changed this week. According to ESPN, Kellen Moore was given some snaps with the first team during practice this week. As expected, the Dallas Cowboys are trying to downplay the move. Jason Garrett told the media that they are simply trying to keep their options open in case starting quarterback Matt Cassel is hurt during the game.

There’s more to the story, of course. If the Dallas Cowboys were to lose to the New York Jets on Saturday night, then the NFL Playoffs become much more difficult of a goal to reach. The only way to extend the season would be if the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, and New York Giants all lose their respective games.

If the Dallas Cowboys were to be eliminated this weekend, then there is a very good chance that Jason Garrett sends Matt Cassel to the bench. He is unlikely to be brought back as the backup quarterback next season, so they might as well start to see if Kellen Moore can be the guy.

Two games isn’t a very large sample for Kellen Moore to prove to the Dallas Cowboys that he should be their backup quarterback next season. It will be especially hard if some of the players decide to check out for the season. The emotional star wide receiver has been accused of not putting out his best efforts because Tony Romo is not on the field.

When the 2016 NFL Draft rolls around next April, the Dallas Cowboys are surely going to select a quarterback. It is up to Kellen Moore to dictate which round they do that. If he plays well, then the need to spend a high draft pick on a quarterback greatly becomes reduced. They can wait until the sixth or seventh round to find someone they can groom.

Since Jerry Jones has now focused his attention towards the backup quarterback position, Kellen Moore might face more competition than from a rookie quarterback. The Dallas Cowboys will look at all available free agent quarterbacks. Jones definitely does not want to go through the same thing he did this year where the team collapsed without Tony Romo.

Of course, with Jerry Jones being Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys could upgrade the position by making a bigger splash. Do not be shocked if the team were to acquire someone like Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III, or Johnny Manziel, the controversial Cleveland Browns quarterback that Jones has been flirting with over the past couple of years.

[Featured Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images]