Rush could earn up to $6 million in the deal.
Rush has a 5-1 record as the Cowboys starter the last two seasons while filling in for an injured Prescott. In his career, he has thrown for 1,475 yards with eight touchdown passes and four interceptions. At least two AFC teams had sought to sign Rush before he agreed to return to the Cowboys.
The team likely would not have made the playoffs in 2022 without Rush, who stepped in for an injured Dak Prescott at the beginning of the season and went 4-1 as a starter.
Prescott suffered a broken right thumb in the season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that required surgery and forced him to miss five games. In came Rush, who was steady and made plays when they mattered most.
His numbers weren’t spectacular – Rush didn’t pass for more than 235 yards or have more than two touchdown passes in a game. However, he helped the Cowboys beat the 2021 Super Bowl finalist (Cincinnati Bengals) and champion (Los Angeles Rams) in four weeks, while delivering two key NFC East wins against the New York Giants and Washington Commanders in between.
Rush, who turned 29 in November, had three first-half interceptions in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles before Prescott’s return.
In the nine games he saw action last season, Rush was 84-of-162 passing for 1,051 yards and five touchdowns.
It wasn’t the first time Rush had been pressured to start the service instead of Prescott. In the first start of his career — against the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 31, 2021 — Rush threw for 325 yards on 24-of-40 passing with two touchdowns, including the game-winner to Amari Cooper in the final minute.
In three of his six career starts, he led Dallas to a late game-winning drive, becoming one of nine quarterbacks to do so in the first six starts of a career.
Rush won the Cowboys’ backup job as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and kept the job through 2019. With the arrival of Mike McCarthy in 2020 and the addition of Andy Dalton, Rush was released and spent time with the Giants before returning to the Cowboys later that season.