Dak Prescott
Tier: 3
Rank: 12
Write-up:
Dak Prescott is not just a product of his situation. As early as Week 2 during his rookie season Prescott was calling full-blown audibles from five-receiver sets. His acumen allowed him to spread the defense out, diagnose the coverage based on the alignment before throwing the ball downfield. Prescott obviously got very good pockets throughout the majority of the year but when he was pressured he didn’t drop his eyes or panic. Prescott was a poised pocket passer who could make subtle movements to set and reset in the pocket. He recognized blitzes quickly to get the ball out when he had to and understood when to hold the ball behind good protection. Prescott didn’t waste the time and space he was given. He didn’t force throws when his first read wasn’t there and he wasn’t in a rush to run the ball. Those technical and mental traits allowed Prescott to avoid throwing interceptable passes, he wasn’t just another Nick Foles or Josh Freeman relying on defenders to drop his bad throws over and over again. Prescott threw an interceptable pass on 2.62 percent of his attempts, one every 38.23 throws. Those technical and mental traits will act as the foundation of Prescott’s skill set moving forward.
Even if the Cowboys quarterback never gets any better than what he was during his rookie season, he will be an above-average starter. For him to take that next step and move into the first or second tier of quarterbacks, Prescott will need to show off better ball placement.
Overall accuracy percentage suffers from the same issue as completion percentage, it can be misleading based on how deep each quarterback throws the ball. Prescott finished 11th in accuracy percentage during his rookie season and his accuracy rankings by depth proved he wasn’t simply relying on short passes. There were more than 10 quarterbacks who were more accurate than Prescott. His numbers are warped not by how far he threw the ball but by the types of throws he threw. Prescott was able to avoid difficult passes more than most quarterbacks. He made the throws you expect an NFL quarterback to make at an incredibly high rate. That was the biggest benefit for Prescott playing in the Cowboys offense. He could sit in the pocket and wait for a long time, wait until Cole Beasley or Jason Witten made a second or third movement to create separation in their routes. That doesn’t mean Prescott didn’t make spectacular throws into tight coverage at times, it just wasn’t a staple of his weekly performances.
Without Ezekiel Elliott for a chunk of this season, Prescott will be under more pressure to play with a more aggressive mindset. That should lead to more deep throws into tight coverage for Dez Bryant.
Did you know?
26 quarterbacks threw deep (21+ yards) more often than Dak Prescott last year but only four quarterbacks threw further than five yards downfield more often than him. Prescott lived in the intermediate ranges, throwing 52.5 percent (11th) of his passes into the 1-10 yard range and 23.32 percent (8th) of his passes into the 11-20 yard range.
