Cowboys Looked Into Potential Trade For Josh McCown, But Decided It Was Too Costly

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Cowboys looked into the possibility of trading for Browns veteran QB Josh McCown. However, Rapoport doesn’t expect trade talks to reignite in the coming days, based on the Browns’ asking price and McCown’s salary.

Instead, Rapoport says that the Cowboys will spend the next week looking for a backup quarterback behind Dak Prescott.

There really isn’t all that much in the free agent pool right now, so it will be interesting to see who ends up being available once teams get closer to the 53-man roster limit.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported a few weeks ago that the cost to acquire McCown was “believed to be no less than a fourth-round pick.”

McCown, 36, signed a three-year, $14 million contract that includes $6.25 million guaranteed with the Browns back in March of last year. He stands to make base salaries of $4.375 million (2016) and $3.625 million (2017) over the duration of the agreement.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading McCown will free up $3,708,332 in available cap space while creating $1,333,334 in dead money.

In 2015, McCown appeared in eight games and threw for 2,109 yards while completing 63.7 percent of his passes to go along with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 29 quarterback out of 38 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding the Cowboys’ options as the news is available.