Cooper Rush should be fairly easy to spot this weekend. He’ll be the 32-year-old slinging passes at the Minnesota Vikings’ rookie minicamp this weekend.
The former Cowboys backup quarterback and nine-year NFL veteran will be there on a tryout basis, right alongside the team’s brand new draft picks, some of whom are a full decade younger than he is.
Rush, who played for Baltimore last season and went 0-2 in a pair of injury-replacement starts for Lamar Jackson, was released by the Ravens in March and is currently a free agent.
His stay in the Twin Cities, however, may not last long. The Vikings already have four quarterbacks on their roster: Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. But with no first-year passers picked up in either the draft or as undrafted free agents, the team needs someone to throw at this weekend’s rookie minicamp.
That’s where Rush and fellow tryout Aidan Bouman (son of former Vikings QB Todd Bouman) come in, more than likely just hoping to make a good impression that they can parlay into an invitation to someone else’s training camp or QB room.
For Rush, his latest audition reps will come with a team against whom he enjoyed perhaps his signature moment as a Cowboy.
On Halloween night of the 2021 season, Rush- in his fifth NFL season- made his first-ever NFL start, filling in for starter Dak Prescott, who had been scrubbed due to a calf injury. The career backup played “like a seasoned veteran,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy would say later. Facing a hostile Minneapolis crowd in primetime, a calm and cool Rush racked up 325 yards and two touchdown throws, including a game-winning score that capped off a 75-yard drive with under a minute to play.
Rush would then go 4-1 subbing as the Cowboys starter as Prescott nursed an injury to the thumb on his throwing hand the next season. The stretch- which saw Rush win his first five pro starts- helped keep the Cowboys afloat early in the 2021 season; upon his return, Prescott was able to guide Dallas to a playoff berth and the divisional round of the postseason.
Over eight years with the Cowboys, broken up by a rather short stint on the Giants’ practice squad in 2020, Rush went 9-5 in 14 starts wearing the star.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Former Cowboys backup QB Cooper Rush on tryout at Vikings’ rookie minicamp
Reporting by Todd Brock, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
