As Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott enters his 10th season under center, his critics around the league won’t remain silent.
Prescott is the NFL’s longest-tenured active starting quarterback, and he’s a three-time Pro Bowler, former Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, and a one-time league passing leader. However, CBS Sports NFL analyst Cody Benjamin believes Prescott is overrated and details why.
“It’s not that Prescott is bad. He really isn’t,” Benjamin acknowledged. “You don’t last nearly a decade as the Dallas Cowboys’ starter, with seven playoff appearances, by accident.”
“But that Cowboys brand magnifies everything, and the simple truth is that Prescott is the latest face of an organization that’s routinely failed to make deep-playoff noise out of the NFC,” Benjamin added.
Prescott has a 2-5 playoff record, and he has never led the Cowboys past the divisional round. That included his rookie year of 2016 when the Cowboys had the No. 1 seed, a 13-3 record, and an elite offensive trio of Prescott, former wide receiver Dez Bryant, and former running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Prescott’s most recent playoff start was impressive numerically with 403 yards passing and three touchdowns in the 2023 season, but the Cowboys got torched by the Green Bay Packers 48-32 that year. Last season, Prescott went down with a season-ending hamstring tear, and the Cowboys sputtered to 7-10 and missed the playoffs.
“He’s regularly considered among the NFL’s top 10 or so starters, he’s survived multiple coaching changes and he’s repeatedly landed lucrative extensions in Dallas,” Benjamin wrote. “He’s also struggled to stay healthy and/or control the ball in three of his last five seasons, and he enters Year 10 with just two postseason victories to his name.”
To Benjamin’s point, Prescott has not enjoyed the continuity that former Cowboys greats once had such as Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. Staubach played his entire career under Tom Landry, and Aikman played under Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer during his career.
Prescott will play for his third head coach, Brian Schottenheimer after five years under Mike McCarthy and four under Jason Garrett.
That hasn’t limited Prescott’s production amid his career 66.8% completion rate and 31,437 yards and 82 touchdowns in nine seasons.
As Benjamin mentioned, the Cowboys have spent big on the former fourth-round pick from Mississippi State. Prescott has a four-year, $240 million contract right now, and he has $248.57 million in career earnings thus far.
That’s more than Aikman and Staubach combined albeit in different eras. However, Aikman and Staubach delivered the Cowboys’ Super Bowl wins with three and two respectively.
Where Other QBs Landed
Benjamin categorized Prescott with other quarterbacks who haven’t won much in the postseason. Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins and Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals also fell in the overrated category.
That said, Benjamin gave Prescott the most promising outlook of the three with a return to the playoffs. Tagovailoa is expected to have ups and downs, and Murray could keep the Cardinals in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Benjamin chose the following quarterbacks as underrated: Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos, and Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles. All three quarterbacks are expected to lead their teams on deep playoff runs this upcoming season.
