The Dallas Cowboys 28-14 loss on Monday night to the Tennessee Titans at AT&T Stadium was crushing to their hopes of making the playoffs out of a weak NFC East this season. Remaining in the hunt with a 3-5 record may be the only thing stopping the Cowboys from making immediate changes in personnel or coaching. This season’s struggles, mainly on offense, have also not changed the long-term outlook for the Cowboys at the most important position in sports — quarterback.
Just as Jason Garrett frustratingly remains the guy at Head Coach, and Scott Linehan at Offensive Coordinator, Quarterback Dak Prescott is on track for an extension following the 2019 season according to his owner and GM Jerry Jones.
"Dak is the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, he's young and he's gonna get extended." – Jerry Jones on @1053thefan.
Holy cow. The worst news of the year.
— Jeff Cavanaugh (@timeforjeffrey) November 6, 2018
The Cowboys have yet to win on the road this season. With trips to Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Indianapolis still to come Dallas could play their way into a forced change at one of these three positions.
With so many new first-year coaches in the building, the Cowboys might not see a suitable replacement for Garrett and Linehan at The Star right now though. Without a first round pick, traded for Amari Cooper in favor of any 2019 receiver prospects, the same could also go for Prescott.
Extending Dak while remaining aggressive about upgrading at QB could be the smart choice for the Cowboys. Nothing about their current makeup points to this being the case, but a decision on Prescott’s contract is not due until after next season.
Getting a passer that’s accomplished more than Prescott on the team for next season is understandably difficult. The top free agent quarterbacks are likely Teddy Bridgewater and Josh McCown, who would both do little more than cash checks they don’t deserve against the Cowboys cap.
Prescott can do the same thing for another year on his rookie deal, and beyond on a contract that pays him like the backup QB the Cowboys should be preparing for.
This lines up well with a crop of 2020 QB prospects that are already in the national spotlight, such as Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert. Of course, the Cowboys would have to struggle once again to pick high enough for either passer to be a possibility.
It also remains to be seen if Herbert will declare for this year’s draft instead.
It’s been quite the fall from grace for Dak Prescott, who managed nine wins in a season where Running Back Ezekiel Elliott was lost for six games just a year ago. Now, the Cowboys take Elliott out of games themselves with a game plan that relies on Prescott being someone he isn’t.
The end result has been Prescott ending up on the losing end of too many games where he simply didn’t do enough for the Cowboys, hardly an enviable position to be in at QB in today’s high-scoring NFL.
Jerry on Dak: "He's gonna get extended."@1053SS and @RJChoppy: *stunned silence* pic.twitter.com/kSrCjB8QP5
— Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) November 6, 2018
Who Prescott is on a merely factual level is a fourth round pick that’s not consistent enough from the pocket to win games. The entire Cowboys organization can’t be blind to the fact that running out this same coaching staff with Prescott under center in 2019 is a punt on an entire season, a stark contrast from their win-now approach with Prescott in 2016 and most of 2017.
That 2017 season that yielded nine wins, which would require a 6-2 record for the Cowboys from this point on, did ultimately result in the firing of/changing of seven coaches below Garrett and his coordinators.
What Jerry Jones doesn’t see is a viable option for the team to move forward without Prescott. At least as of Tuesday morning, off a Monday loss, and at the very least not before the end of next season. What Cowboys Nation sees is a quarterback that would hardly be viable elsewhere, especially in a Dallas organization that’s literally proving why they aren’t a fit for a QB like him while talking about a contract extension.
A coaching change would be the only thing the Cowboys can do to create some optimism for Prescott, giving their new coach a proven commodity at quarterback and allowing him to make a decision from there. Jones didn’t sign off from 105.3 The Fan without further votes of confidence in his top coaches, but talks of extending them are silently in the distance.
A Dak Prescott extension should rightfully be the end of the coaches responsible for handing him the keys and steering him off path from 2016 Rookie of the Year to reeling 2018 starter still feeling the effects from how last season ended.
The Cowboys desperately need further change, and if it’s not coming soon at quarterback it should be expected elsewhere.
