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Ryan Mallett a Dallas Cowboy?

By Reid Hanson

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With news that QB Ryan Mallett was just cut from the Houston Texans, social media lit up, linking the former Patriot and Razorback to the Dallas Cowboys.

It took only minutes for the Dallas Cowboys to be linked with now-available QB, Ryan Mallett. The former starter for the Houston Texans was released this afternoon after lengthy discussions between Coach Bill O’Brian and GM Rick Smith.

Ryan Mallett, the on-and-off-again starter in Houston, began his career with the New England Patriots backing up Tom Brady. The 3rd round pick out of Arkansas came to the NFL with obvious talent and obvious maturity issues.

Mallett joined Houston in 2014 at the request of new head coach, Bill O’Brian. O’Brian, thought of as a QB friendly coach with a knack for developing, struggled to motivate and improve Mallett. After missing practice earlier in the year and the team flight this week, O’Brian had enough of his 27 year old signal caller.

Mallett, at 6’6” 245 lbs, fits the prototypical mold of an NFL QB, but his lack of maturity and pattern of behavior have stood in the way of his immense talent. It shouldn’t be a mystery why the Dallas Cowboys would be linked to Ryan Mallett. Consider the following:

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  1. The Cowboys are in desperate need of a QB who can fill in for Tony Romo the next few weeks.
  2. Ryan Mallett’s skills are undeniable and at 27, he still has some time to realize his potential.
  3. Ryan Mallett went to Arkansas, owner Jerry Jones’ alma mater, and while that doesn’t mean a darn thing to the Cowboys, people outside the organization like to think it does.
  4. The Cowboys, are the Cowboys, and any news becomes bigger news, if the Cowboys can somehow be involved.

The idea of the Dallas Cowboys adding a player like Ryan Mallett remains a distant long-shot…like a full court heave-hoe long-shot… wearing a blind fold. As if the Cowboys need reminding, Greg Hardy just reaffirmed that grabbing players with baggage can be a very challenging affair.

Hardy’s dust-up on the sideline with his special teams brethren was far from the non-issue the Cowboys are playing it off as. It was “conduct detrimental to the team” if there ever was such. It wasn’t just a case of showing passion like Dez Bryant and Michael Irvin have done in the past. But I digress…

Greg Hardy may be a royal pain in the “donkey” but The Kraken produces sacks and that makes the antics somewhat digestible.  Three sacks in two games will buy anyone a lot of slack in this league. On the Dallas Cowboys, it may just buy you a contract extension.

Ryan Mallett, on the other hand, is all of the baggage and not much else. Mallett is at or near, the bottom of the NFL in most major categories.  His cannon arm has an average yardage per competition at only 5.25. Despite the short throws, Mallett is only completing 53.1% of his passes. He’s never even had a season where he completed more touchdowns than interceptions. At the QB position, talent just isn’t enough to succeed in this league and Ryan Mallett is the perfect example of that.

The Dallas Cowboys have two QBs in Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel who are already better than Mallett. Sure, they are highly-flawed players but not as flawed as Mallett. On top of that, both Cassel and Weeden are high-character men who are assets to the locker room. The same cannot be said for Mallett.

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