Dak Deserves the Money

The Cowboys should pay their QB if he fully recovers from his ankle injury

by Brendan Smith, Sports O'Clock Writing Team Member

(photo credits: Ron Jenkins/Associated Press)

Quarterback Dak Prescott was having a fantastic season with the Dallas Cowboys and was on pace to shatter his career-high stats from the 2019-20 season. Amidst a contract dispute with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Prescott was surely going to earn a massive payday based on his statistics.

Then, in the third quarter of a Week 5 matchup against the New York Giants, Prescott suffered a compound fracture and dislocation to his right ankle, which ended his season. Prescott’s injury prompted speculation that the Cowboys would try to avoid paying him over fears he would be unable to return to his best form. With a high draft pick guaranteed in the 2021 NFL Draft, it would be the perfect time for Jones to cut ties with Prescott and draft a younger, cheaper quarterback.

If Jones were to go down that route, he would be making a terrible mistake. Prescott represents the best chance the Cowboys have to win a Super Bowl, even though those chances are incredibly slim considering the coaching staff and roster around Prescott.

Prescott’s stats speak for themselves: prior to his injury, he was completing 68 percent of his passes and averaging over 370 yards a game. Both of those stat lines are career highs for Prescott. The only downside to Prescott’s 2020-21 stats came from the wins/losses column. The Cowboys only won two of the five games Prescott started this season, but one can argue he did enough to win those games and was instead let down by the Cowboys’ porous defense.

If the stats cannot convince Jones that Prescott is his franchise quarterback, he should look at how the team has performed without Prescott. The Cowboys have lost all four of their games since Prescott went down, averaging just over 10 points a game. The Cowboys have a lot of talent on offense, but everyone seems lost without Prescott on the field. Prescott is the definition of a leader, and the Cowboys should treat him as such with a new contract.

Prescott has given everything for the Cowboys; it was obvious how much the organization means to him when he was seen in tears being carted off the field after sustaining the injury. Jones and the Cowboys played hardball with Prescott over a contract last offseason because it seemed as though they did not realize how important Prescott is to the Cowboys. The Cowboys have been terrible without Prescott, so Jones should not hesitate to give him a long term contract if his recovery and rehab go as planned.

(Statistics taken from Pro-Football-Reference.com)

(All photos are cited properly. No copyright infringement intended.)