The Dallas Cowboys are down, but it’s too early to declare them out of the NFC playoff race at 3-6. To compete, however, Dallas is going to need an uptick in quarterback play over what they’ve gotten from Cooper Rush and Trey Lance over the past two weeks.

Rush has fallen well shy of middling, completing just over 50% of his passes (26-of-48) for 150 yards and 1 TD across two losses to the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles. Lance, meanwhile, went 4-of-6 for 1 INT and took 2 sacks against Philly last weekend.

Dak Prescott underwent hamstring surgery on Wednesday, Nov. 13, which will sideline him for the remainder of the year. However, the Cowboys also traded a fourth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for relatively unproven wide receiver Jonathan Mingo a couple of days after Prescott suffered that injury.

The move indicates that Dallas owner Jerry Jones still intends to try and compete this season with the likes of Mingo and star wideout CeeDee Lamb healthy. However, with neither Rush or Lance having proven yet that they are up to the task, the window is open for Jones to make a free-agent play for a veteran QB with a vastly superior NFL resume to both of those players.

Ryan Tannehill, 36, didn’t sign with a team during the offseason after playing out his four-year, $118 million contract with the Tennessee Titans in 2023. However, he made that decision not because he is interested in retirement, but because he isn’t interested in playing the role of backup at this point in his career.

No franchise has yet offered Tannehill the opportunity he is seeking. However, Dallas potentially could — and perhaps should — before its season is too far gone for a salvage attempt to make sense.

Spotrac listed Tannehill’s market value at $7.7 million annually heading into 2024. Using that figure as a starting point and pro-rating it over the remainder of the season, Tannehill would cost the Cowboys around $3.4 million for the final eight weeks.

Jones cried poor — which sounded a little like the infamous boy crying wolf — when offering an excuse for why the franchise didn’t sign current Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry during the offseason.

But it’s hard to sell anyone on the notion that Dallas doesn’t have the funds to go out and add Tannehill — a 2019 Pro Bowler who led the Titans to an AFC Championship Game following that season and to the playoffs over the two subsequent campaigns.