Dallas Cowboys Perspective: Is Dak Prescott 'Elite'?

Throughout the years, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has lavished praise - sometimes even to uncomfortable extremes - on Dak Prescott.

Jones, essentially, has called Prescott "one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL," "the best leader I've ever been around" and "the quarterback that can lead us to where we wanna go" which is, of course, to the Super Bowl.

mike, dak and Jerry

But, in this case, do words speak louder than actions?

With Trevor Lawrence - a quarterback with fewer accomplishments and less leverage than Prescott - signing a contract extension that will pay him $55 million a year, the fact-based speculation now is that the Cowboys' quarterback could be the NFL's first player to earn $60 million a year.

One problem, according to The Athletic. In its weekly mailbag, it writes that - despite years of Jones' public backing - the Cowboys don't actually see Prescott as an "elite" quarterback. Despite him being 73-41 as a starter and last year finishing second to Lamar Jackson in MVP voting.

"I don’t believe Cowboys management thinks that Prescott is elite, as much as they’ve indicated with their words," writes reporter Saad Yousuf. "If they did already think he was an elite quarterback, Prescott wouldn’t be entering the final year of his contract. Actions always speak louder than words. I think management believes that Prescott is an elite leader, and even an elite person. But if they thought he was an elite quarterback, he’d have a new contract extension completed a long time ago."

If the Cowboys don't indeed believe Prescott is elite, other teams will likely line up in free agency to show that they believe he is.