Opting to Go With an Unknown Over Dak Prescott is a Bad Plan

This week reports came out that the Dallas Cowboys have reconnected with representatives for Dak Prescott to further their contract discussions. As such, the conversation about Dak Prescott’s value has continued to run rampant through media and fans alike. This has led some to come up with some pretty interesting, albeit very unlikely scenarios for how this all should play out. Some have thrown out some pretty ridiculous hypotheticals that involve trading Dak Prescott for draft picks or just letting him walk altogether.

Yesterday, Spotrac, a site that offers insight into salaries and the NFL salary cap threw out a question for people to answer on Twitter that was pretty laughable.

Would you rather?

Dak Prescott 4 years, $140M, $106M GTD thru 2022

– or –

Dak Prescott 1 year, $28M +
Jalen Hurts 4 years, $14M w/ the #17 pick.

— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 26, 2020

Would you rather have Dak Prescott for the next four years at $35 million a year or Dak Prescott in 2020 for $28 million a year and then use the 17th overall pick on Jalen Hurts and have him for the next four years at around $3.5 million a year. To me the answer is simple and it makes me shake my head that it’s even a question.

First of all, let me state that I am a University of Oklahoma Football fan. Since my wife and I started dating, I’ve been following the Sooners very closely. She’s an alumnus of OU and since my alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington, hasn’t had a football program since the late 80s, I jumped on board the Sooner Schooner.

With that said, I’ll also add this. I think Jalen Hurts has a chance to be a good NFL quarterback. His ability to make the throws, athleticism and mobility make him a very intriguing prospect. However, I don’t think anyone is looking at him as a first-round quarterback at this point. He has a lot of tools and a lot of intangibles that could make him a very successful NFL quarterback. The things he needs to work on though are ball security and being a more decisive decision-maker.

He held the ball too long at times last year at OU and sometimes that led to some questionable throws. There were several times that he showed really poor ball security, especially in the red zone when they used him to run quite a bit. When he’s got J.J. Watt coming around the edge, he’s going to need to have a better handle on the football if he’s going to take a hit.

Jalen Hurts was an excellent player for the Sooners last year and has the work ethic and leadership capabilities that you want in your starting quarterback.

In all of the hypotheticals that have been explored this offseason, pretty much all of them have the Dallas Cowboys downgrading at the quarterback position. Whether it’s Tom Brady, trading Prescott for draft picks then drafting a quarterback, or adding any of the other veteran free agents that are available, each of them has the Cowboys getting worse at the quarterback position.

The only reason this is getting explored is that Cowboys fans and media analysts alike are getting sticker shock when they see the numbers being discussed in connection with Dak Prescott’s negotiations. We overrate cap space when it comes to good players.

Jalen Hurts might be a good quarterback in the NFL. We already know that Dak Prescott is a good quarterback in the NFL. Good quarterbacks get paid. And whether it’s this week or next month or by July, Dak Prescott is going to get his big-money contract that has the potential to be the richest quarterback contract in the NFL.

All of this is ludicrous.

Dak Prescott is, and will be for a long time, the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.