FRISCO, Texas – Well, it's about darn time.
A credible analysis and ranking of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, and hopefully you feel me.
For far too long too many of these rankings and analysis of Dak, starting his 11th NFL season with the Cowboys, have been haphazard, without much thought, and mostly based on the inability of the Cowboys to either reach the playoffs every year or the inability to even win two rounds of playoff games, and of course, from these surface evaluations, that then all falls on Dak's shoulders.
Because as we know, the only members of an NFL team with a record are the head coach and the quarterback, the commanders, right, allowing the likes of a wide receiver or defensive end escaping any sort of the record-related wrath.
Can't resist turning, er, returning to Bill Parcells for his commonsense assessment of the quarterback position:
"They aren't out there playing singles."
And that takes me back, uh, 40 years ago when at the Giants Jersey training facility working on preview pieces for the upcoming Cowboys-Giants game, waiting to talk with Giants quarterback Phil Simms when Parcells recognized this stranger in his locker room.
"What are YOU doing here," he barks at me in our first encounter, but as history goes, not to be our last.
"Waiting to talk to your quarterback, coach, Simms is having a really good season," was my response.
He scoffs, knowing Simms, the quarterback, is being overly scrutinized by the overhearing media in those parts, and says in heavy Jersey tones, "Huh, why are yoouuu so (ahem) smart."
Some things you don't forget, nor change, since Parcells and his Jersey rough edges ending up the Cowboys sixth franchise head coach 17 years later.
So look, after the Cowboys signed Dak to his record-setting extension, so many then wanting to judge Dak on his money, not what they are seeing on the field. All these QB rankings leaving Dak out of the Top 10, produced by those on talk radio and the know-it-alls on websites producing these rankings while doing no more than sitting in an office writing off television broadcasts.
Maddening.
Why last year, after Dak had produced a Pro Bowl 2023 season, throwing for 4,516 yards, 36 touchdowns and finishing with a career-high 105.9 QB rating for a 12-5, NFC East-winning Cowboys team, only to suffer that 2024 season-ending hamstring ligament tear off the bone, here is where NFL.com ranked him in its Top 100 NFL Players going into 2025:
79th.
Seriously.
Of the 15 quarterbacks ranked in the Top 100 that year, Dak was 14th. Only QB ranked behind him was Tua at 91. Hell, Vita Vea, but a space-eating nose tackle, was 76th. Bo Nix after his rookie season was 64th.
No respect. Or maybe these types just suffering a case of short-sightedness.
Since Dak's rookie season of 2016 (13-3), the Cowboys have produced six winning seasons. Until the 7-9-1 season of 2025, Dak had never suffered a losing record – nor the Cowboys – in a year QB1 had completed a season, having suffered season-ending injuries in 2020 (6-10) and 2024 (7-10) after five and eight games, respectively. Qualified for the playoffs in five of those first seven seasons he finished until last year's lone losing record.
But finally, finally a respectable panel was established. ESPN last week began ranking the Top 10 players at each position. But unlike previous panels, these rankings are a collaboration of votes from NFL executives, coaches and scouts, like guys paid princely to know the what the heck they are doing. Oh, and not just tabulating votes but also gathering unattributed quoted analysis of the players. Imagine that, from experts actually involved in the game.
And guess where Dak finished among the Top 10 Quarterbacksleading into the 2026 season?
Sixth.
That's right, just a skosh off my Top 5 opinion, for what that's worth. Hey, if not for Dak's performance, these defensively deficient Cowboys would not even have come close to finishing 7-9-1 last year. Why 11 times the Cowboys gave up at least 27 points in a game. Their record in those 11 games? But 2-8-1. Needed to score 40 twice to win one and tie one, and 31 to win the other. And when it came to the nine games the Cowboys put up at least 27 points, they finished 6-2-1.
And here is a good reason why the Cowboys were able to at least accomplish that. Dak ended up with the second most NFL passing attempts (600), first in completions (404), third in passing yards (4,552, just 12 out of second), fourth in touchdown passes (30) and seventh with a 99.5 QB rating. But to highlight his career, that QB rating ranks only sixth best of his career.
Dak has been that good. He is that good, a gold standard for Cowboys future quarterbacks. His career QB rating of 98.3 is a franchise record after 10 seasons, which means higher than Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterbacks Roger Staubach (83.4) and Troy Aikman (81.6), though poor Troy had to suffer through a 0-11 start that rookie season of 1989 when the Cowboys finished 1-15, ending up with a 55.7 QB rating that year on arguably the worst team in franchise history, yes, from a talent standpoint, worse than the Cowboys 1960 inaugural season of 0-11-1.
Oh, having said that, Dak in his 2016 rookie season finished with a 104.9 QB rating, a franchise rookie record that had a lot to do with the Cowboys going 13-3, winning the NFC East and the NFC's No. 1 seed.His career completion percentage of 66.9 is a franchise high. His 35,989 career yards passing is now a franchise high. His 243 career passing touchdowns is five short of Tony Romo's 248 franchise high.
Enough said? Get my point?
Oh, wait, also consider what one voting NFL coordinator had to say about Dak Prescott:
"He's a true, acute progression passer. There are only so many of those types. He can read the whole field, from pre- to post-snap. He's just really a good commander of the offense."
Well, let's go with that then for 2026:
"Comdr. Prescott."
