Rush, who had started every game since Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury, was replaced as the starter by Trey Lance vs. the Commanders
ARLINGTON, Texas — Longtime backup quarterback Cooper Rush had started every game for the Dallas Cowboys since quarterback Dak Prescott’s season-ending injury (hamstring tear in Week 9 at the Falcons).
That changed in Week 18 against the Washington Commanders with Dallas giving Trey Lance, the 2021 NFL Draft’s third overall pick, his first start in two seasons with the team on Sunday. Coincidentally, that switch prevented Rush from hitting his entire play-time incentive for the 2024 season. CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported on Thursday that Rush will earn $500,000 in incentives if he plays 55% of the team’s snaps in 2024. Entering Week 18, Rush had played 52.5% of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps, so he needed around 65 offensive snaps to clinch the full $500,000. Dallas logged 75 offensive snaps on Sunday, so had Rush started, he would have earned $250,000 more in incentives. Instead, Rush settled for an extra $250,000 for playing over 45% of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps.
After Dallas’ 23-19 defeat to end their their 2024 season with a 7-10 record, team owner and general manager Jerry Jones claimed he didn’t know about the incentive.
“I didn’t even know about it,” Jones said. “I didn’t even know about it until I read about it, so nothing at all. Those incentives are in there for the team. We put them in there so that if someone is, in his case, as the backup quarterback, has to play, he has the financial incentives. They’re usually put in there because of the people representing him. They should be. … He [Rush] did earn some pretty serious incentives this year.”
