Monday, April 2
Updated: August 14, 2:30 PM ET
Cowboys introduce new quarterback



IRVING, Texas – The Dallas Cowboys on Monday unveiled 27-year-old Tony Banks as the heir apparent to three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Troy Aikman.

Tony Banks
Banks

"I still haven't even thought about it as replacing Troy Aikman," Banks said at a news conference at the Cowboys' Valley Ranch headquarters. "Once I started knowing what position I wanted to play and how I was going to play, he's one of the guys I looked up to."

Last week Banks agreed to a one-year, $500,000 deal with Dallas.

"I look at this opportunity and everybody knows contract-wise it's a trial basis, a one year basis for both ends," he said.

Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones and Banks' agent, Marvin Demoff, finalized the salary cap-friendly contract at the NFL owners meetings in Palm Desert, Calif.

"To get an experienced quarterback like Tony Banks, that really puts my mind at ease from the standpoint that we have a guy that's won games in the NFL and has a lot of talent," coach Dave Campo said.

Banks was cut by the Baltimore Ravens March 1, just before he would have been due $2.8 million on a four-year, $18.6 million contract he signed in February 2000.

The Cowboys' offensive coordinator, Jack Reilly, was quarterback coach in St. Louis when the Rams chose Banks from Michigan State in the second round of the 1996 draft.

Banks visited the Cowboys on March 6, the day before Aikman was released. No other free-agent quarterback visited the Valley Ranch facility.

In his five-year NFL career, Banks has started 61 games. Last season, he completed 150 of 274 passes (55 percent) for 1,578 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Banks played three seasons in St. Louis before being traded to Baltimore in 1999, when he threw a career-high 17 touchdown passes.

The Cowboys waived Aikman after 12 seasons for salary cap reasons and health concerns.

Aikman was due a $7 million bonus and an extension through 2007 if he was still been on the Dallas roster March 8. The 34-year-old quarterback played in only eight games last year because of two concussions and a chronic back problem. He had four concussions in his last 20 starts.

The Cowboys have $23 million counting against their salary cap this year for players no longer on the roster. That includes at least $10 million for Aikman.

Before Banks, the only quarterbacks on the Cowboys roster were Anthony Wright and Clint Stoerner. Wright started and lost the last two games last season, and Stoerner was 3-for-5 passing in his only game last season.

Veteran Randall Cunningham was also with Dallas last season, but he met performance incentives in his contract that made him a free agent.

"I'd like to make Dallas my home," Banks said. "It's a little closer to my original home and any place I go I want to finish my career out."






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