It's easy to slap around Dallas Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones for a lot of the moves he makes in free agency and in the NFL draft. There's been a long list of failures in both departments.
And even though a backup quarterback is far from being the sexy, slam dunk of a signing, the Cowboys made the right move by bringing in veteran Kyle Orton to serve as the backup for Tony Romo. The Cowboys decided they didn't trust an unproven Stephen McGee after Jon Kitna retired following last season, which was the right idea.
The Cowboys tried to claim Orton off waivers when the Broncos cut him in midseason, but they were beaten on the waiver wire by the Kansas City Chiefs, but Orton took notice of the Cowboys' interest, and the feeling was mutual.
“Man everything was appealing to me to be honest with you," Orton told Ben & Skin of ESPN 103.3 FM. "Going back to when I asked to get away from Denver and getting claimed by Kansas City. Dallas put a claim in as well as Kansas City and Chicago, so right then I kind of had a big interest in the Cowboys. Just kind of going into free agency I just wanted to make sure some of the things I was looking for was a great locker room, a veteran lead locker room and you know a good team where we were going to be playing in a lot of big games and a coaching staff that fits with me and having worked with Wade Wilson in Chicago and kind of following Coach Garrett I feel comfortable with every situation and just real happy with the decision I made.”
Orton threw for nearly 4,000 yards in 2009 an 2010 with the Broncos, so the man can sling the ball around the field, that much is proven. That's more that can be said for McGee. You hope Romo doesn't get hurt, but he's shown some injury history in the past, and if he does go down you'd have to think Orton could take over the reins of a good team and there not be much drop off. Are the Cowboys a good team? That's yet to be determined, but they definitely have some offensive weapons in place.
And even after losing out to the Tim Tebow ascension to greatness, Orton isn't bitter about losing his starting gig in Denver, and he is ready to serve as a backup.
“Just be a great teammate, be a great guy in the locker room, come out to practice every day and work your butt off every day and just be as prepared as you can in case you get that chance to step on the field,” Orton said about his job description as a backup quarterback.
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