3 Cowboys Who Could Be Benched in Second Half of Season

If you could go back before the start of the season and draw up a worst-case scenario for the Dallas Cowboys, we're probably living it out, aren't we?

Micah Parsons has missed significant time due to injury as he awaits a contract extension. Dak Prescott got his big-money contract before the start of the season and is now on injured reserve with a major injury. The loss of Dan Quinn has loomed large for the Dallas defense. The division and Wild Card playoff spots are well out of reach before Thanksgiving.

To say it's been a disastrous year for Dallas would be putting it mildly, to say the least. Now, we have to start thinking about which Cowboys players could potentially be benched here in the second half of the season.

1. Cooper Rush

I personally just don't get what the Cowboys are doing here. We all saw the struggles of Trey Lance in the preseason, especially in the preseason finale when he got his most extensive snaps yet. But the idea of trading a fourth-round pick for Lance last year and letting him rot on the bench has absolutely no merit.

Cooper Rush is a fine backup and spot starter, but he's not the type of player you want out there in a lost season. With the way the Cowboys have struggled offensively to run the ball effectively as well (31st in yards and yards per attempt), Lance could potentially even provide a spark with his running abilities, too.

At some point, hopefully in the near future -- and with all due respect to Rush -- we will see Lance out there getting his shot with the Cowboys. Lance will be a free agent in 2025 and nobody knows what he's capable of in real NFL regular season games.