Dallas’ $60 million quarterback shuts down rumors of roster insecurity, praising his standout teammate’s return while the front office justifies a high-stakes gamble on the depth chart.
If the Dallas Cowboys released Joe Milton to protect Dak Prescott's ego, somebody probably should have told Dak Prescott.
That was one of the more .... entertaining .... theories to emerge after Dallas waived Milton on Monday, keeping Sam Howell as its backup quarterback despite Milton completing 29 of 43 passes for 378 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions during the preseason.
Chad Ochocinco was among those who wondered whether something else was at play.
"We can't have a quarterback on the roster, active roster at that, that played that well," Ochocinco said on "Nightcap."
His argument centered around what might happen if Prescott struggled. Howell wouldn't necessarily generate calls from fans to replace the Cowboys' $60 million quarterback. Milton, fresh off an impressive preseason, potentially could.
"This is dirty business," Ochocinco said.
So ... the logic here is that Milton was cut because Dak was scared of him? It's certainly a more entertaining explanation than the one Dallas provided.
There's also one pretty significant problem with it … the Cowboys wanted Milton back.
Brian Schottenheimer said so the day after Dallas waived him, calling the decision between Howell and Milton "very, very hard" and saying getting Milton back on the practice squad would be "incredible."
Then Milton cleared waivers.
No other NFL team wanted the supposed threat to Prescott's job badly enough to claim him for its active roster … and Milton ultimately returned to Dallas' practice squad Wednesday.
If the objective was removing Milton from Prescott's shadow, changing his employment classification while keeping him in the same quarterback room was a fascinating way to accomplish it.
Prescott has now made the theory even harder to sustain himself.
"It means a lot," Prescott said Thursday of getting Milton back. "Obviously, me just personally, I thought he would've gotten picked up in the waivers. Fortunate for us, we got a hell of a player back and a guy that makes our room better, a guy that makes our team better."
Prescott's praise went much further.
He called Milton "a hell of a competitor" and "one of the best at throwing the ball," then explained that his responsibility is to be the right leader and "right brother" for the 26-year-old as Milton processes losing the competition to Howell.
That's quite the endorsement from a quarterback who was supposedly worried about having Milton around.
There is a perfectly reasonable football debate buried underneath all of this.
Milton had an excellent preseason. Anyone who believes his talent and upside should have earned him the QB2 job has plenty of evidence to make that case.
Dallas evaluated more than three preseason games.
Schottenheimer said Howell had done more in terms of executing certain areas of the offense, praised his understanding of the system and field vision and acknowledged that his 18 NFL starts factored into the decision. Stephen Jones similarly pointed toward the "full body of work" when explaining why the Cowboys narrowly preferred Howell.
Question the evaluation all you want — that's a football debate worth having.
Turning it into an elaborate plan to protect Prescott from Milton requires a whole lot more imagination.
The Cowboys publicly said they wanted Milton back. No other team wanted him enough to claim him. Milton returned. Prescott responded by celebrating the reunion and talking about helping Milton continue his development.
If this was all an elaborate plan to make sure Prescott never had to look over his shoulder at Joe Milton … somebody in Dallas really botched the final few steps.
