For the last year, there hasn’t been a topic in sports as hotly debated as the future of Dak Prescott with the Dallas Cowboys. In Cowboys circles and across the NFL landscape, everyone has an opinion on Dak Prescott. Prior to the Amari Cooper trade, the debate surrounded Prescott’s future as the Cowboys franchise quarterback. Since then, Cowboys fans and media alike have wondered how much Dak Prescott is worth.
To me, the answers should be obvious. He is a franchise quarterback and he’s about to get paid a lot. Regardless of what we think, however, the group of people that matter the most are ready to move forward with Dak Prescott as their future at the quarterback position. And by move forward, I mean they are about to write him a big check.
Yesterday, Cowboys Owner and General Manager went on the Rich Eisen Show and expressed his faith in Dak Prescott’s present and his future with the Dallas Cowboys.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talking about Dak Prescott today on the @RichEisenShow: "We're sold on Dak and we do want to have him for the long term. We think he's worthy of investing in for the long term. … We see real upside in Dak. You don't have it all yet."
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) May 6, 2019
The best part of this quote, is that they see upside in Prescott. He’s already accomplished a lot in his short NFL career. Two Pro Bowls, two division titles, two divisional round playoff appearances, rookie of the year, MVP consideration (in 2016), and a playoff win.
Though QB wins aren’t a stat that adequately assesses quarterback play, the fact remains that the Cowboys have gone 32-16 with Dak Prescott at quarterback since 2016. In fact, only one team has won more games in the regular season from 2016-2018 than the Dallas Cowboys; the New England Patriots.
| Game | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Draft | Tm | GS | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Pick6 | TD% | Int% | Rate | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | ANY/A | Y/G | 4QC | GWD |
| 1 | Tom Brady | 6-199 | NWE | 44 | 1051 | 1583 | 66.39 | 12486 | 89 | 21 | 1 | 5.6 | 1.33 | 103.5 | 435 | 7.89 | 8.42 | 7.79 | 283.8 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | Dak Prescott | 4-135 | DAL | 48 | 975 | 1475 | 66.10 | 10876 | 67 | 25 | 4 | 4.5 | 1.69 | 96.0 | 675 | 7.37 | 7.52 | 6.56 | 226.6 | 8 | 14 |
| 3 | Drew Brees | 2-32 | NOR | 47 | 1221 | 1698 | 71.91 | 13534 | 92 | 28 | 3 | 5.4 | 1.65 | 106.4 | 450 | 7.97 | 8.31 | 7.75 | 288.0 | 10 | 13 |
| 4 | Ben Roethlisberger | 1-11 | PIT | 45 | 1140 | 1745 | 65.33 | 13199 | 91 | 43 | 3 | 5.2 | 2.46 | 95.2 | 446 | 7.56 | 7.50 | 6.99 | 293.3 | 7 | 9 |
| 5 | Russell Wilson | 3-75 | SEA | 48 | 972 | 1526 | 63.70 | 11650 | 90 | 29 | 2 | 5.9 | 1.90 | 98.7 | 970 | 7.63 | 7.96 | 6.73 | 242.7 | 8 | 9 |
| 6 | Matt Ryan | 1-3 | ATL | 48 | 1137 | 1671 | 68.04 | 13963 | 93 | 26 | 4 | 5.6 | 1.56 | 105.7 | 687 | 8.36 | 8.77 | 7.87 | 290.9 | 4 | 6 |
| 7 | Philip Rivers | 1-4 | SDG | 48 | 1056 | 1661 | 63.58 | 13209 | 93 | 43 | 4 | 5.6 | 2.59 | 96.1 | 512 | 7.95 | 7.91 | 7.22 | 275.2 | 6 | 6 |
| 8 | Alex Smith | 1-1 | TOT | 40 | 874 | 1322 | 66.11 | 9724 | 51 | 18 | 2 | 3.9 | 1.36 | 95.0 | 468 | 7.36 | 7.51 | 6.73 | 243.1 | 4 | 6 |
| 9 | Jared Goff | 1-1 | RAM | 38 | 772 | 1243 | 62.11 | 9581 | 65 | 26 | 1 | 5.2 | 2.09 | 94.7 | 617 | 7.71 | 7.81 | 6.85 | 252.1 | 5 | 5 |
| 10 | Marcus Mariota | 1-2 | OTI | 43 | 785 | 1235 | 63.56 | 9186 | 50 | 32 | 4 | 4 | 2.59 | 88.7 | 572 | 7.44 | 7.08 | 6.16 | 208.8 | 7 | 9 |
Dak Prescott is the only player in the top five to have not won a Super Bowl (yet). Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, and Russell Wilson have all won a Super Bowl. Three of those four have been to multiple Super Bowls. Matt Ryan’s appeared in a Super Bowl and been to the playoffs several times.
Prescott’s the only player in the top eight who’s been in the league for only three years. Jared Goff is the only player in the top 10 in QB wins since 2016 who came into the league at the same time as Prescott.
Nobody has more game winning drives in the last three seasons than Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. Only Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints have more 4th quarter comebacks than Dak Prescott’s eight fourth quarter comebacks.
Prescott’s 11th in passing yards in that time frame and 13th in passing touchdowns. If you include his 18 rushing touchdowns, Prescott’s accounted for 85 total touchdowns in his three seasons in the NFL. 20 quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions than Dak from 2016-2018, including Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Drew Brees, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, Jared Goff, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins and Ben Roethlisberger.
The only players to throw for more touchdowns and fewer interceptions than Dak Prescott are Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Two of the best quarterbacks of all-time.
We’ve seen Dak Prescott be really great. He’s also had some stinkers in his NFL career, but more often than not, he puts the Cowboys in position to win the game in the fourth quarter. So much of what’s great about Dak Prescott are things that you can’t measure or look at on a spreadsheet. Though the spreadsheet is pretty good too.
Prescott’s shown to be a leader, to be mentally tough, and to not be rattled by game situation. Does he have things to work on? Yes, every quarterback does. With good coaching this offseason, he’ll improve his footwork, which will only improve his accuracy. Every quarterback misses throws, even the good ones, but Dak’s great at the things that you can’t teach him.
Those immeasurable things combined with his play on the field make Dak Prescott a quarterback “worthy of investing in.”
