Dallas Cowboys

Why the Dallas Cowboys were smart to add Mark Sanchez

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Why adding a veteran backup like Mark Sanchez, who has won many games in the NFL, was a smart move by the Dallas Cowboys for 2016 and beyond.

It took the Dallas Cowboys less than a half hour to acquire quarterback Mark Sanchez after he was released Saturday morning by the Denver Broncos.

Sometimes, decisions are just that easy.

The need for the Dallas Cowboys to sign another quarterback was obvious. With an unknown timetable for return of incumbent starter Tony Romo, something had to be done.

You can have all the confidence in the world in rookie Dak Prescott, but what if something were to happen to him? Jameill Showers is not taking this team to the promised land.

Maybe Mark Sanchez isn’t either.

He’s also not being asked too.

That’s why all the vitriol on social media, even from Cowboys fans, makes no sense.

First of all, take a look around at the other options. Who would you have preferred?

Austin Davis? Aaron Murray? T.J. Yates? Jimmy Clausen?

No thank you.

Maybe it’s all the silly meme generating that’s sure to happen. Maybe, I thought, that some of you just can’t yet another dumb joke regarding a Cowboys quarterback.

If that’s the case, please move along and find another team.

Whatever the reason, one thing is certain, it cannot be about football.

From a football sense, this is not only a smart move, it’s the right move. With the landscape of professional football in the state it’s in, almost no team has two starting quality quarterbacks.

As a starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez would likely rate as one of the five worst in the NFL.

But, as a back up quarterback, he’s probably one of the five best you can have.

The reason is because of the experience level he brings to that role. Take a look at every other team’s backup option and find me five guys better than Sanchez.

Sanchez has almost 75 career starts and nearly 40 career wins. That’s taking into account that most of his career, the following guys were his main supporting cast:

Shonn Greene at running back. Braylon Edwards at receiver. Dustin Keller at tight end.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant and Jason Witten are just slightly better than those three.

Even if you want to account for his brief stint in Philadelphia, where the skill position talent was an upgrade, the offensive line wasn’t.

These things matter.

And before you go to the well with last year’s terrible triad as a counter argument, remember that Bryant was not healthy last year. Both Elliott and Alfred Morris are upgrades over Darren McFadden as well.

This is not an effort to sell you on Mark Sanchez as the eventual leader of the Dallas Cowboys. There are certainly things that he could do better as a quarterback. He is not an ideal long-term starting option, as I said earlier.

He is also the best option for the role he is being asked to fill. Sanchez also gives the Cowboys an option in the future if Romo decides to retire. At 30 years old (in November), Sanchez could be around for a while as Prescott’s caddy.

Let others make all the jokes they want. In this case, the Dallas Cowboys will have the last laugh.