The Dallas Cowboys face a dilemma amid ongoing contract negotiations with quarterback Dak Prescott.
Prescott enters the 2024 season ranked ninth among active quarterbacks in career passing yards, has led the Cowboys to the playoffs four times but boasts a meager 2-4 record in those six postseason contests and has yet to guide Dallas out of the NFC Divisional round in his career.
Owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys may need to decide whether consistently competing and producing some of the most prolific statistics during the regular season at the position are worth rewarding over gambling that the franchise can hitch its wagon to a new signal caller in hopes of finally delivering postseason success.
Thus far, Prescott’s postseason history has been underwhelming.
Inside Dak Prescott’s Dallas Cowboys Playoff Struggles
Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson recently took a deep-dive into Prescott’s advanced metrics, uncovering what might be holding the Cowboys back in the most meaningful games.
“In postseason play, Dak averages half a yard less per pass attempt,” Monson points out for PFF. “And has a worse turnover-worthy play rate to go along with a worse big-time throw rate. (3.0% to 3.5% and 4.5% to 3.5%, respectively). By every conventional measure, Prescott has been a significantly worse quarterback in the playoffs than in the regular season.
“This isn’t necessarily uncommon. Of the 14 quarterbacks who recorded at least 40 dropbacks in last season’s playoffs, every single one earned a worse PFF grade than their regular-season baseline. Most, however, did not suffer the magnitude of drop-off that Prescott has over his career, and several were just about in line with how they had played in the regular season.”
While playoff games by definition feature more difficult competition, the fact that Prescott hasn’t been able to overcome some of the game’s stingier defenses to make a lengthy postseason run given the abundance of weapons around him could be enough to give Jones and the Cowboys pause.
If the Cowboys and Prescott fail to strike a deal before the season begins. In that case, there is a very real possibility that the 31-year-old may need to change the narrative by leading a postseason run in order to justify a contract extension in the neighborhood of Patrick Mahomes,’ Jordan Love’s or Tua Tagovailoa’s recent megadeals.
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