FRISCO — There are some new items for fans to ponder as it pertains to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. The veteran signal caller will have to show he can bounce back from another season-ending injury suffered last season and capitalize on having two elite wide receivers installed into his offense.
But the central question around Prescott, coming from his supporters and doubters alike, remains focused on one thing: when will he deliver big in the postseason.
Granted, Prescott has come through for the Cowboys in key spots in January, most recently in the NFC Wild Card back in the 2022 season when Dallas torched Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, Prescott is yet to lead the Cowboys to an NFC Championship Game in his tenure, an objective that has evaded the franchise as a whole since 1995. For that reason, Bleacher Report has come after Prescott, shaming him and the Cowboys for what Kristopher Knox labels the second-worst contract in the NFL.
"Now, Prescott has performed better than other players on this list, when healthy, anyway. He's a three-time Pro Bowler who was a viable MVP candidate in 2023. However, he's also 31 years old, has just two career playoff wins and has missed substantial time in three of his past five seasons.
"Prescott is an above-average quarterback, but he has never been elite. There is no scenario, at this stage in his career, that he's worth $5 million per year more than any other player."
Is that a fair assessment of the quarterback? Generally speaking the Cowboys have not yet seen a return on their investment, dealing with many of the same ills from years past.
However, Prescott's contract has made him a target in a discussion that ignores a central truth of the NFL and the rest of professional sports for that matter: winning is extremely difficult.
No matter how easy a franchise like the Kansas City Chiefs makes it look, reaching the promised land is grueling trial of a team in many categories. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, both MVP winners and heralded above Prescott in quarterback discourse, have yet to reach a Super Bowl in their careers.
This analysis of Prescott's massive contract completely fails to identify why the Cowboys made the deal in the first place. Prescott is their best chance to end this decade's long drought and there aren't better alternatives knocking on the door of the team headquarters.
All teams make the same gamble on a quarterback and some never find that ultimate prize. But that does not make it a bad investment.
As long as the Cowboys continue to fall short, people will continue to point back to this contract, blaming Prescott and the team for wasting away time and resources.
Now that the quarterback has returned from his injury and the Cowboys have reloaded around him, Prescott stares down a prime opportunity to silence those critics and finally deliver some return on that investment.