Jerry Jones: Luke McCown better fit for Cowboys than Colin Kaepernick

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was finally forced Saturday to answer the Colin Kaepernick question that is sweeping the NFL.

And his responses were quite telling regarding the continued unemployment of the former Super Bowl quarterback viewed as politically untouchable because of his national anthem protests as a member of the San Francisco 49ers last year.

The Cowboys added 36-year-old Luke McCown on Saturday to replace the injured Zac Dysert, theoretically, to compete with rookie Cooper Rush for the third quarterback job behind starter Dak Prescott and backup Kellen Moore.

“We really have our guys set in a way that Luke fit what we wanted from our third quarterback,” Jones said. “Dak is No. 1 and Moore is No. 2. We are looking for someone we can evaluate and train and possibly be a quarterback of the future.”

Of course, McCown is 36 and last played in a regular-season game in 2015. In his career, he has thrown nine touchdowns with 15 interceptions, and has a 2-8 record in 10 career starts. He is essentially more of a camp arm than a developmental prospect for the future.

Asked why McCown is better for the future than Kaepernick, who tossed 16 touchdowns and four interceptions last year with the 49ers, Jones bristled.

“We are looking for what fits our team talent-wise, talent-wise,” Jones said, repeating “talent-wise” with emphasis. “We like Luke very much. I know where you are going. The issue here is our depth and building around what fits our offense. We really like Moore as our backup. We don’t want to think too much about not having Dak.

“And so we are really looking at our third quarterback so that we are looking for a player that we can develop more. That’s about all I can say about it.”

Asked if he is surprised that Kaepernick does not have a job, Jones said: “Nothing surprises me at all. We have been very fortunate that it looks like we have our quarterback of the future. Again nothing surprises me.”

Jones declined to Cowboys owner Jerry answer whether Kaepernick’s anthem protest is the reason he doesn’t have a job. But Jones said that every decision is based on what gives you the best chance to win and said that, more than anything, is possibly why he wasn’t on a team.

“I know this. I feel that every team in the NFL makes every decision on players to win the ballgame,” Jones said. “If someone is not on the team I would say that whatever the reason the decision-makers on all 32 teams are trying to pick them to win. So I accept that. If they are not out there, that’s why they are no out there.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Jerry Jones: Luke McCown better fit for Cowboys than Colin Kaepernick."