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Dallas Cowboys: Is Brandon Weeden the safety net needed at QB?

By Stephen Forsha

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Every year, one of the most important positions on an NFL team is one fans hope to never see take a snap on the field all season long. That position is the backup quarterback, and for the Dallas Cowboys, Brandon Weeden is that player.

Recently, this offseason has been a way for Weeden to shine for the Cowboys, and according to quarterback coach Wade Wilson, a former starting quarterback in the NFL, Weeden has improved.

Not only has Weeden improved, but he’s the “most improved player on the team” this offseason.

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Jon Machota of DallasNews.com quoted Wilson in an article this week about Weeden’s improvement:

"“He has a greater understanding of the concepts, the protections, calling the plays, all those kinds of things. He’s made a big jump this year … His confidence and his demeanor, his complete understanding and grasping exactly where he’s supposed to go with the ball, handling blitzes and things like that, he’s been very improved.”"

Weeden has played parts of three seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and the Cowboys, where he’s totaled 5,149 passing yards and a competition percentage of 56 percent in 28 games (21 starts).

This past season in one start and five total games played for the Cowboys, his first season with the team, Weeden was 24-of-41 for 303 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 12.6 yards per competition as the backup to Tony Romo.

In his rookie season as a 29-year-old with the Browns in ’12, he completed 57.4 percent of his passes for 3,385 yards and 14 touchdowns (15 starts). In those games, the Browns were 5-10.

Last season in his lone start, Weeden was 0-1, losing vs. the Arizona Cardinals.

Now for this season, like mentioned earlier, the hope is Weeden doesn’t see the field and Romo starts and finishes every game this upcoming season, but having an “improved” Weeden as the backup does make life less worrisome for the franchise, I assume.

Nov 2, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick (72) snaps the ball to quarterback Brandon Weeden (3) in the game against the Arizona Cardinals at AT&T Stadium. Arizona beat Dallas 28-17. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Weeden is a former first-round selection, and let’s be honest, he was set up for failure his first two seasons in Cleveland (the land where quarterbacks go to have careers ruined), so basically last season was a re-do rookie season for the quarterback.

What haunted Weeden his rookie season in ’12 was his 17 interceptions, and in ’13 (eight games, five being starts), he threw nine picks. Last year with Dallas in the five games played, he had two interceptions.

Let’s say Romo has to miss a game or more, and looking at his past history, it will most likely happen, unfortunately. Just what do the Cowboys have in their backup quarterback?

Weeden isn’t the quarterback of the future or anything like that for the Cowboys, but for ’15, if he is an improved quarterback over what he was last year like Coach Wilson said, then maybe he can keep the train on the tracks, so to speak. He’ll have help from his offensive line, though the jury is still out on the running game.

It is actually good to see that Weeden is living up to some of the potential that was placed upon him early in his career with his ability to make improvements in the offseason. He should have never been a first-round selection, but that really isn’t the problem of the Cowboys.

I think the Cowboys should be happy where they are with their backup quarterback. In fact, their situation at that spot might be better than some teams’ starting quarterback situations headed into 2015.

Let’s all just hope the Cowboys don’t have to find out how good Weeden really is in ’15.

Next: Will Dez Bryant sit out Week 1?

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