Dak Prescott called overrated; winner should have been the word

Being the franchise quarterback for “Crew USA” carries a whole lot of baggage, some good and a few not so good. Just lately, former Dallas Cowboy and now ESPN persona Chris Canty revealed that Dak Prescott is his most overrated participant within the NFL.

Everyone seems to be entitled to their opinion, nonetheless, going by the attention examination and backing it up with statistics tells an entire totally different story. If something, Prescott is not overrated, he is a winner.

Lengthy earlier than he got here to Dallas, Prescott was a three-star prospect from highschool in Louisiana who did not get a lot fanfare. This isn’t shocking as a result of he was not a extremely sought-after prospect. In reality, state powerhouse LSU was initially solely keen on him as a decent finish earlier than his senior 12 months and Dak instructed them, “No, I’ll play quarterback.” After having a breakout senior season, LSU got here again with a proposal to play quarterback, however they had been a little bit late to the get together, as convention rival Mississippi State College had already dedicated Prescott, and he wished to be a person of his phrase and preserve his dedication to the college.

Throughout his first two seasons in school, Prescott performed a little bit, however his junior 12 months is when issues began to take off, propelling him to a possible future within the NFL. He completed the 2014 season with 3,449 passing yards and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 27 to 11. He additionally rushed for almost 1,000 yards, giving the college its first No. 1 rating and capping the 12 months by ending eighth within the Heisman. .

As a senior in 2015, Prescott ran the ball much less and targeted on turning into a greater passer, displaying that his completion proportion went from 61.6% in 2014 to 66.2% in 2015. He additionally shot nearly 3,800 yards and improved his touchdown-to-interception ratio to 29 touchdowns with simply 5 interceptions.

By the point his school days had been over, Prescott was a strong prospect who confirmed that he couldn’t solely run the ball nicely, but in addition throw it across the outfield. Even with all of the success he had at Mississippi State within the prime school soccer convention referred to as the SEC, he fell to the fourth spherical of the 2016 NFL draft as many labeled him a mean backup or particular workforce member.

Primarily based on the place he discovered himself after the NFL draft, he would begin as backup to then-starter and franchise quarterback Tony Romo, which is ideal for a creating prospect who was drafted within the fourth spherical. Nonetheless, on August 25, 2016, issues modified as we knew them when Dallas’ franchise quarterback went down in a preseason recreation in opposition to the Seattle Seahawks and was later identified with a damaged again. The damage would preserve him out for no less than six weeks.

After an 8-1 begin, it was clear that Dak Prescott had taken the job from Tony Romo and Romo knew it. It was an unlucky technique to finish a profession for Romo, who basically misplaced his job resulting from damage, however in typical Tony Romo style, He dealt with it like a complete skilled. On the finish of the season, the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys completed the season with a 13–3 document, ending sixth in MVP voting, and successful the Offensive Rookie of the 12 months award. His first season within the NFL went from backing up the backup (Kellen Moore) to turning into the franchise quarterback.

Photograph by Tom Pennington/Getty Pictures

Since that well-known rookie 12 months, Prescott has not solely been sturdy (not counting 2020), however reliably good. His profession successful proportion is simply over 62%, which based mostly on a 17-game season would equate to successful just below 11 video games per season. In full seasons he has performed since he entered the league in 2016, he has by no means had a document beneath .500. He has a profession landing to interception ratio of 143 touchdowns to only 50 interceptions. Talking of interceptions, Prescott’s interceptions-per-pass try ratio of 1.7% ranks him fourth all-time, which is best than the likes of Tom Brady and Russell Wilson. On prime of that, Prescott ranks fifth all-time in passer score, fifth in completion proportion, tenth in completion fee per recreation and thirteenth in passing yards per recreation.

Final 12 months alone, Dak threw for almost 4,500 yards with 37 touchdowns in opposition to simply 10 interceptions. He additionally threw his finest completion proportion of his profession, which was 68.8%. On the finish of the season, his win-loss document was 11-5 and he completed second within the Comeback Participant of the 12 months award.

Dak Prescott has already established himself as among the best quarterbacks within the NFL, and that does not equate to being overrated. Contemplating the journey he is been on since his highschool days, he is gone from being seen as a decent finish prospect to now being within the prime echelon of quarterbacks in immediately’s recreation. If there’s one phrase to explain Dak Prescott, he is a winner.