Now that Cooper Rush is officially on another team, and Trey Lance is likely gone for good too, Quinn Ewers’ name has become a popular talking point.
A lot of pundits are saying the Dallas Cowboys should draft Ewers to back up Dak Prescott and Will Grier next month. Giving him time to be ready to take over in a few years.
A quick scan of some of the mock drafts online also shows the Cowboys taking Ewers from as high as the second round to the fifth.
A recent report claims that Dallas is indeed taking a long look at Ewers as part of their draft prep.
Here’s why they should ignore the pundits, the mocks, and the clickbait stories. The Cowboys do not need Prescott 2.0.
And that is precisely what Ewers is.
I could call him the “White Dak Prescott” I suppose. But I get enough of race-baiting foolishness from the Dak Pack as it is, so let’s not even go there, okay?
Solid Regular Season Numbers
One thing Ewers has very much in common with Prescott is mostly positive regular season numbers.
In 36 games over three seasons at Texas, Ewers has 9,128 yards, 68 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. Half of his interceptions came last year though.
That translates into a 27-9 record.
He also led the Longhorns into the college football playoffs in the last two years.
In his nine-year NFL career, Prescott has compiled a 76-46 record. In 122 games, he has thrown for 31,437 yards, 213 touchdowns and 82 interceptions.
Over half of his interceptions, 42, have come over the last four years, however, and he missed half of last year at that.
Prescott has led the Cowboys to the playoffs in five of his nine seasons.
Despite the recent trends in passing the ball to players in the wrong color uniform, both quarterbacks have certainly been successful.
In the regular season, that is. But how are they when the stage that the games are played on gets bigger and the lights grow brighter?
Consistently Falling Short
Prescott’s playoff record has been well-documented.
In seven games, he has just 1,962 yards passing with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Four of those interceptions have proven the most costly.
Prescott is just 2-5 in the playoffs.
That includes a 2-2 record in the wild card round and a dismal 0-3 in the divisional round.
Both he and Tony Romo remain the only Cowboys’ quarterbacks who were the starters for more than seven years who have failed to reach a conference or league championship game in franchise history.
In Prescott’s last two games, he has thrown two interceptions in the first half of each game. Against the 49ers in 2022, that led to six points for San Francisco and took at least three off the board for Dallas.
The next year, Prescott’s two early picks handed the Packers 14 points, including seven on a Pick Six, that put Dallas in a 27-0 hole.
They never dug their way out of that monumental deficit.
If you include the Alamo Bowl game in 2022, Ewers is slightly better in postseason play with a 3-4 mark at Texas. In 2023, Ewers dominated Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game only to lose to Washington in the semifinals.
In 2024, Ewers’ Longhorns lost to Georgia in the SEC title game, beat Clemson, survived against Arizona State, and collapsed in the semifinals against Ohio State.
In the playoffs over the last two years, Ewers has 12 touchdowns and six interceptions and couldn’t get his team to the big game. Just like Prescott.
Again, if Prescott 1.0 isn’t cutting it, why would Prescott 2.0 fare any better?
Just Say No
The Cowboys have far too many needs still to be addressed in this year’s draft.
If they want to make a push for a Super Bowl, and the way they’ve been spending the salary cap suggests they want to, burning a second-or-third-round pick on Ewers is counter-productive.
He might be worth a fourth rounder, but there’s a problem there. The Cowboys traded that pick away already.
Ewers isn’t falling into the fifth round.
The Cowboys’ first three picks need to be on the offense, playmakers or difference makers on the offensive line.
Not on long-term back-up quarterbacks.
Not this year at any rate.