this season is a make or break season for dak prescott

So a report dropped this week.
NFL reporter Mike Fisher says that the Cowboys have interest in C.J.
Stroud.
Now, for anyone looking at this report, they have to think, don't the Cowboys already have a quarterback?
Don't they already have a highly paid quarterback on the roster, Dak Prescott, one that has lost his last two playoff games through the 40 Niners?
This is an interesting development because the Cowboys, they've seemingly been pretty loyal to Dak Prescott over his time there.
Now there was a small contingent of fans that were shouting Cooper Rush last year, but nonetheless Dak Prescott came back definitive starter and there's no looking back on it, despite him leading the league in interceptions last year.
What do you think when you start hearing the report that the Cowboys are interested in looking into possible quarterback replacements for their highly paid quarterback.
Means that Dak Prescott may be headed into a make it or break it season in Dallas?
And I said after the playoff run last year where everyone was kind of dumping on Dak because he led the league in interceptions despite the fact he only played 12 games.
I want to say after Cooper Rush's injury situation.
Yes, first time in our history that someone who has missed five games has also led the league in interceptions.
So when that happened and look, he played alright in the playoffs, of course, the Tampa Bay game, they worked up on a team that didn't belong in the playoffs and Dak's numbers were solid at the very least going into that game.
And after that I said there is no scenario where Dak Prescott is going to be gone because they just can't afford it.
They just can't afford to move off of Dak Prescott after this season.
He's got $49 million guaranteed coming.
This next season.
He is going to be the Cowboys quarterback through the end of 2023.
And when the Cowboys signed that extension, they knew he was their quarterback through 2023 and there was very little way to get out of that After 2023, most of the guaranteed money has been paid out.
So there is a scenario where the Dallas Cowboys can move off of Dak Prescott.
They might have to take a dive one season in 2024 because they would have a $40 million dead cap hit.
But similar to Aaron Rodgers, there are ways they can spread it out over like two or three years where the 40 million won't hit in one season.
It'll be like 2010 and ten over three seasons.
But they can get out of the Dak Prescott contract and save like $25 million if they so choose coming out of next season.
And so if you're potentially looking at the next quarterback of the future and maybe don't want to extend Dak Prescott until he's 35 or 36, which I think you could go both ways on that one.
Giving Dak a four year extension, not giving Dak a four year extension.
If they don't want to do that, then maybe looking at replacements is the right way to go.
And C.J.
Stroud was the quarterback listed in this report.
Now we talked a little bit about it off camera, the possibility of gain C.J.
Stroud would be a costly endeavor for them.
At the very least, I predict C.J.
Stroud is going to be in the top ten, just given the amount of quarterback needy teams out there.
And I equate this more to the Trey Lance deal that you probably need three first round picks to get up into that top ten to draft Stroud.
So I'm going to discount it happening.
Notable that they're looking at Stroud and it's notable that this is the quarterback that's piquing their interest.
But I'm actually looking at this quarterback class and it's not half bad as far as like depth in the class.
Dak was a fourth round pick, right?
As I look at this year's draft class, besides like the top three quarterback, the definitive top three where we talk about Stroud Young and Will Levis, there are guys like a Hendon hooker that you could get later coming off an ACL injury.
There is a guy like a max Dugan, you could get late in the draft.
I think a lot of teams, their perception of drafting quarterback has changed a little bit because of one Brock Purdy, Mr.
Rubin seventh round vet.
Even if you're the Cowboys, aside from a rock party, you literally drafted Dak again in the fourth round so you can find value at the quarterback position.
Now it's not something that happens very often.
We do see a lot of the better quarterbacks in the league are first round picks.
However, you can get a guy that you can always win a championship or capitalize on a championship window with.
And I think the Cowboys have come to the realization it's probably unlikely that they're going to win a Super Bowl with Dak Prescott.
You talk about it being a make or break year.
I feel as though the only make for Dallas, especially when you have an aging owner like Jerry Jones, is to win a championship.
And I think this will be a hard choice because for Jerry because honestly, Jerry is a pretty loyal guy when you really think about like all the guys he's given contracts to, all the guys he keeps giving sack and opportunities to third opportunities, fourth opportunities.
Jason Garrett was there for years.
Mike McCarthy's seemingly got a longer leash as he does Dak like Jerry giving him opportunities.
I feel like he'll continue to give him opportunities.
However, they should always be kind of like looking to upgrade that position because I think there's a ceiling.
I think we've hit that ceiling with Dak Prescott.
So let's go back to when Dak Prescott was picked in the fourth round back in.
2016, because the reason there are a couple of reasons why the Cowboys were able to get him in the fourth round in the first place.
One of them, Dak, was coming off of a DUI in college, and so that ended up hurting his draft stock.
But the second reason, the infatuation with Paxton Lynch, which was everyone saying, I can turn this six foot eight gigantic quarterback with a big arm into something.
Oh, Paxton Lynch, great stat, first quarterback to ever be benched in the CFL, NFL, USFL and XFL.
Paxton Lynch, Broncos legend.
Even just just.
Saying that makes me tickle.
Like so.
Dak was still the fifth quarterback taken in the class.
And look, the Raiders probably hate that they took Connor Cook over Dak Prescott, but Prescott was basically the fourth quarterback in his class.
It's just he slid into the fourth round because there just weren't a ton of Mid-round QB You.
Mentioned that there was no DUI.
Then we're probably talking about Dak Prescott at minimum.
Probably like a sack around quarterback, like a Jimmy Garoppolo type.
Yeah, he would have been the third quarterback in his class if not for this weird Paxton Lynch infatuation, which by the way, is this is the same thing the Cowboys are banking on this year.
I don't think it was a weird Paxton Lynch infatuation.
I'll say this because you look at a guy like Josh Allen, right?
You draft a guy that has tools, you have got a big arm tall.
You know, you think it could work out.
But obviously we know how that story was written.
But yeah.
It's perfect that you said that because guess who's now a top five taking the NFL draft?
Anthony Richardson.
You know why?
Because one team looks at Anthony Richardson and says, I can fix that.
I can make him my Josh Allen or I can make him my Paxton Lynch And Anthony Richardson is going to get picked in the top five by some teams.
So if the Cowboys are banking on is one someone takes Will Levis over C.J.
Stroud which would just be ridiculous.
And two, someone's going to take Anthony Richardson in the top five, which means C.J.
Stroud becomes the fourth quarterback taken in his draft class and the Cowboys can pick him up.
The Cowboys are trying that same strategy all over again with Stroud.
Now, there's no rule that says you can't evaluate quarterbacks in the draft.
Even if you have a quarterback on the roster or a guy under contract on the roster, I think is the important thing to know.
If you're a smart front office, you're always looking at upgrades at every position.
I don't care if Patrick Mahomes is on your roster.
If you think some quarterback out there exists that's better than Patrick Mahomes, then you've got to be continually evaluating the position.
You look at a case like the Philadelphia Eagles, you know, they had Carson Wentz on the roster that didn't stop them from drafting.
Jalen hurts in the second round.
You have to constantly be thinking about like, well, how is this going to age?
How is this specific contract going to age?
Do we need a backup quarterback is very valuable in the NFL too.
It's something we're learning about.
How many quarterbacks suited up last year, like 60, 70 quarterbacks, I think was the number that was listed.
Even if you're not drafting a guy to eventually be your starter, you need a capable backup.
Just in case I mentioned Mahomes, Mahomes got hurt, you know, thank God you had Chad Handy who knew the system and was able to come in and do what he needed to do.
A lot of teams could benefit from just even at base minimum.
Having a Chad Heaney on the roster are Gardner Minshew on the roster, Brock Purdy, Jimmy Garoppolo one of these kinds of quarterbacks that just could come in and win you a couple games.
You talk about a guy like Anthony Richardson, like, well, he has the tools to like maybe give you like a couple of good games in his rookie season.
You hope it doesn't end up like a Malik Willis situation where they come in and they're just completely inept at the NFL level.
But the Cowboys would be smart that if they're not drafting a serious round and they don't have to draft the C.J.
Stroud second, third round, fourth round, fifth round, take a guy.
There's like I said, this is a very deep quarterback class that even if you're not drafting, who's going to be an NFL starter?
There's a lot of guys who are going to be very good NFL backups.
I think the Cowboys would be smart to capitalize on that, even if they're not looking for Jack Prescott's direct replacement this offseason.
And we guys let us know in the comment section below.
What do you think of this report?
Do you think it's noteworthy that the Cowboys are even looking at the quarterback position, looking to upgrade at the quarterback position potentially?
We'd like to hear your thoughts like on video.
I'm sure you guys stay safe, happy and healthy.
We will see you on the next one.