Report: Cowboys FA Cooper Rush Agrees to Ravens Contract to Back Up Lamar Jackson

Cooper Rush is heading east.

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback is reportedly signing a two-year deal worth up to $12.2 million with the Baltimore Ravens, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and Jeremy Fowler, which includes $4.2 million in guaranteed money.

Rush, 31, has spent almost the entirety of his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, other than a brief stint with the New York Giants' practice squad in 2020. In 38 career games (14 starts) he's thrown for 3,463 yards, 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, completing 60.7 percent of his passes and taking 24 sacks.

He's proven to be a solid backup option, going 9-5 as a starter when Dak Prescott was injured, including 4-4 last season.

Backing up Jackson has been more of an honorary position in the last two seasons, however, as Baltimore's superstar quarterback has only missed one game in that time. He missed a combined 10 games between the 2021-22 seasons, however.

Rush will be replacing Josh Johnson, who served as Jackson's backup last season and threw all of three passes.

As for the Cowboys, the team is now in need of a backup for Prescott, who missed nine games last year, five games in 2022 and 11 games in 2020. Durability has become an issue for Dallas' starter and the backup position is important. With both Rush and Trey Lance headed out the door in free agency, adding a new backup quarterback has now become a priority.

"You know, I think one of our goals is to get a young quarterback in the draft," executive vice president Stephen Jones told David Moore of the Dallas Morning News at the NFL Scouting Combine. "I don't know where that's going to be. That's why we gave a [fourth-round pick] for Trey. It seems like all the quarterbacks, even guys we have in the fourth round, go in the first. They always go so much higher than what you think."

He also hinted at the time that the team wouldn't be re-signing Rush because "when we're paying Dak what we're paying him, unfortunately we do have to go cheap [at backup quarterback]."

So Rush heads to Baltimore instead.