IRVING, Texas – With Alex Tanney’s 14-of-19, 136-yard, one-touchdown, one-interception effort against Arizona, a lot of fans were left wondering if the Cowboys should make him the backup quarterback after Kyle Orton’s two-interception performance earlier in the game.
That’s not happening. And Tanney (or Nick Stephens, for that matter) is not assured a spot on the 53-man roster either.
The Cowboys did not carry a third quarterback last year, going with Tony Romo and Orton only. From 2009-11, they kept a third quarterback in Stephen McGee.
"We value the quarterback position a lot," head coach Jason Garrett said. "We would love to have a third quarterback to develop, but roster spots are competitive in this league. You have to make a lot of decisions when you get around the cut down date to 53. There are a lot of good players you have to let go. You've got to figure out who is going to help your team. Developing a player versus this guy can help our team right now; that is a big question we have.
"We feel good about our starting quarterback. We feel good about our backup quarterback. Now we would like to bring a guy along. What capacity would you like to bring him along in, I don’t know that. Tanney did a good job the other night, though."