The Dallas Cowboys had no intentions of playing quarterback Dak Prescott right away when he was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. Well, he was thrown into the fire right away when Tony Romo suffered an injury before the 2016 NFL season began. Prescott took the starting quarterback job and has never looked back since.
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Tony Romo signs autographs during the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Edgewood Tahoe on July 11, 2025.
He is 32 years old. Prescott is still the starting quarterback for the Cowboys. He completed 67.3% of his passes for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions last season. Prescott also rushed for 177 yards on 53 carries and two touchdowns, along with averaging 3.3 yards per carry. Well, he has had a nice career for the Cowboys. Romo also had a good career with Dallas. He played for them from 2004-2016. Romo completed 65.3% of his passes for 34,183 yards, 248 touchdowns, and 117 interceptions in his NFL career.
PFF Ranks Dak Prescott as the Better Dallas Cowboys QB Over the Last 20 Years Over Tony Romo
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Jan 4, 2026; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke (58) recovers a fumble from Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) during the first quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
There are a lot of Dallas fans who debate who is the better quarterback this franchise has had over the last 20 years. Some think that Romo is better than Prescott and vice versa. Nathan Jahanke of profootballfocus.com named the best Cowboys offensive players over the last 20 years. He thinks that Prescott was the best quarterback for Dallas in the last 20 years over Romo. Jahanke said about this debate,
“The toughest decision for this team — and perhaps for any team in the series — came at quarterback. Tony Romo and Dak Prescott both ranked among the top 20 quarterbacks in the project, with little separating them. Romo held the longevity edge and would have been the choice if the exercise centered on each player’s best seven seasons. However, Prescott’s peak was higher. His 2023 and 2025 seasons were enough to give him the nod.”
Romo was strictly a pocket passer, and Prescott has been more mobile. In Prescott’s career, he has already thrown for more passing yards than Romo with 35,989 yards. Prescott has 243 passing touchdowns currently. It will be interesting to see how many more seasons he will play for. With that being said, some people would say Romo is a better quarterback because he was playing against tougher competition and also Romo was playing during a much better quarterback era than Prescott is, however.
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