IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys swapped 2017 fifth-round pick for the Buffalo Bills' 2017 seventh-round pick in order to acquire Matt Cassel on Monday. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones broke down why Dallas made the trade and what the team likes about the Pro Bowl quarterback to backup now-starting quarterback Brandon Weeden.
"Actually, it was an opportunity," said Jones. "The thing at Buffalo made itself available. Nobody wants to give up their No. 2 quarterback because they could have the same thing happen that we had happen. On the other hand, the young quarterback really came through and won the starting job up there. So that made it talkable there in Buffalo. We obviously, I'm not trying to be defensive or anything like that, but Weeden has put the time in. He's got the reps. He's, frankly, got the experience with us, [our] system. That's where we want to go."
Jones dreams that Weeden is able have "a successful run of it" in light of franchise quarterback Tony Romo's eight-week absence due to a fractured left clavicle sustained last week in Philadelphia. Still, the Cowboys saw an opportunity to improve their depth at quarterback and decided to pursue it.
"On the other hand, to get an opportunity to back him up with Matt Cassel was just too good," Jones said. "And we were able to make it work in terms of the trade and so it just improved our team. That's how that happened. We had already been in communication several times before we had the workout with the other quarterbacks that were here. He was our guy going in if we could get him."
Cassel's quarterbacks coach in Buffalo was David Lee, who was also the Cowboys quarterbacks coach from 2005-06 and was instrumental in developing Romo. A good friend to the Cowboys coaching staff and front office, Lee had no endorsements for the 33-year-old.
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