Mike McCarthy, Cowboys aren't interested in signing Cam Newton as Dak Prescott's backup
Cam Newton is now a free agent, but Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys apparently have no interest in signing the former league MVP.
Though many have speculated that Newton could be a great fit backing up Dak Prescott in Dallas this season after the Patriots released him earlier this week, McCarthy shut that idea down on Thursday morning.
“To sit here and talk about any of the players not on our roster, I don’t think there’s really anything that’s beneficial that comes out of that for us,” he said, via USA Today’s Jori Epstein. “But Cam, I’ve had a chance to compete against Cam, chance to watch some of his tape in New England.
“I still think he has a ton of football left. But we’re very excited about the group that we have.”
Newton was released from the Patriots on Tuesday morning, which made first-round draft pick Mac Jones the team’s starting quarterback this season. Newton threw for more than 2,600 yards and threw eight touchdowns with 10 interceptions last season in New England, his first with the team after spending his first nine years in the league with the Carolina Panthers.
Cowboys sign Will Grier, bring back Ben DiNucci
With Newton out of the picture, McCarthy will instead stick with his current group of quarterbacks this season.
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Behind Prescott, Cooper Rush will almost certainly be the No. 2 quarterback in Dallas. Rush, who played in college at Central Michigan, has spent three seasons with the Cowboys from 2017-19, but appeared in just five games and threw three passes over that timespan. Rush spent time with both the Cowboys’ and New York Giants’ practice squad over the past two seasons.
Dallas re-signed former James Madison quarterback Ben DiNucci to its practice squad on Wednesday after it released him on Tuesday. McCarthy also picked up quarterback Will Grier off of waivers on Wednesday, too. Grier, who the Panthers took in the third round of the 2019 draft, started two games for Carolina as a rookie but hasn’t played since.
“Going through the quarterback position, Will, we thought was the best prospect out there,” McCarthy said, via USA Today. “Obviously remember him when he came out of West Virginia.
“[Quarterbacks coach] Doug [Nussmeier] actually coached him at Florida for a year. So had a chance to study him when he was at Carolina two years ago and felt like through the personnel department and coaching staff, we had really good information on him and thought he’d be a great fit for us.”
The Cowboys will open the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday, and are listed as +7.5 underdogs on BetMGM.