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OBSERVATION DECK
QB warehouse
Based on my e-mail box in the last week, panic appears to be spreading in the Cowboy Nation over the backup quarterback spot. There doesn't appear to be much faith these days in Brad Johnson, who turns 40 in September.
Here's one solution: Call the Miami Dolphins who suddenly have a surplus at the position. That would mean Jerry Jones cutting his third deal with Bill Parcells in the last four months. The Dolphins acquired Chad Pennington this month, and he joined Josh McCown, John Beck and Chad Henne on the depth chart at quarterback.
Pennington will be Miami's present and Henne looms as the future. That leaves either McCown or Beck as the backup - and each has too much value to cut.
So look for a trade. My guess is Beck will be the odd man out. Parcells brought in the other three - trading for Pennington, signing McCown in free agency and drafting Henne. He inherited Beck, who was the hand-picked quarterback of the future by previous coach Cam Cameron in 2007.
Parcells has been known to favor his own guys. Beck started four games as a rookie, completing 56 percent of his passes with one touchdown and three interceptions. He was the 40th overall pick of the 2007 draft out of Brigham Young. He'd probably cost a mid-round pick.
McCown would be more attractive to the Cowboys. He's only 29 but has 31 career starts and four 300-yard passing games. He's also from Texas (Jacksonville), and his wife is from Highland Park. But he would have less trade value than Beck, who is 26. Jones and Parcells hooked up for a pair of trades in April with the Dolphins acquiring DT Jason Ferguson, LB Akin Ayodele and TE Anthony Fasano.
STATISTIC OF THE WEEK Reigning NFL MVP Tom Brady has a sterling 86-24 record as a starting quarterback, giving him a winning percentage of .782. The only quarterback who won at a greater clip was Hall of Famer Otto Graham, who won 80.6 percent of his NFL starts in the 1950s with the Cleveland Browns. If Brady wins nine more games in 2008, he will pass three Hall of Famers on the all-time victory list: Troy Aikman, Len Dawson and Steve Young, who are all tied at 94. Ironically, nine more victories would tie Brady at 95 with Drew Bledsoe, the quarterback he replaced at New England.
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(c) 2008, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
