IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys will work out four veteran quarterbacks on Tuesday, as they consider their options while Tony Romo is missing with a broken clavicle.
With Romo expected to miss eight weeks while he recovers, the Cowboys will take a look at four veterans in Christian Ponder, Matt Flynn, Josh Johnson and McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
Of those names, the duo of Flynn and Ponder are the more well-known. Ponder, a Dallas-area prospect, was the No. 12 overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2011 NFL Draft. He started 36 games for the Vikings between 2011 and 2014, completing 59.8 percent of his passes for 6,650 total yards.
Ponder spent the 2015 preseason with the Oakland Raiders before being released during the team's final round of roster cuts.
Flynn has spent time with several different teams since being drafted as a seventh-round pick out of LSU. He was Aaron Rodgers' backup with the Green Bay Packers during his first four years in the league, starting six games in that stretch. He also spent time in Seattle, Oakland and Buffalo.
Cowboys fans might remember Flynn's appearance against Dallas in December 2013, when he filled in for an injured Aaron Rodgers and completed 26-of-39 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns in a 37-36 Green Bay win.
The New York Jets signed Flynn last month as insurance after Geno Smith fractured his jaw during training camp, but he was released before the start of the regular season.
Johnson would be the most tenured veteran of the four, as he came into the league as a fifth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008. He started four games for the Buccaneers in 2009, completing 50.8 percent of his passes for 685 yards with four touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Johnson has appeared in 29 career games with five total starts – most of those in Tampa. He spent the 2015 preseason with Cincinnati before being released, and he spent a week with the Jets prior to the start of the season.
Bethel-Thompson has been around the NFL landscape since 2011, but often not as a member of the active roster. He was undrafted out of Sacramento State in 2011 and has spent time on the practice squad with San Francisco, Miami, New England and Minnesota. He spent a short stint on the 53-man roster with the Vikings in 2012.
The Cowboys also have the option to promote Kellen Moore from their own practice squad. The Boise State product was added to the roster at the end of the preseason after he was released by Detroit.
