DALLAS — To suggest Dak Prescott is not one of the three best players on the Dallas Cowboys is akin to denying sunlight is beneficial for life on Earth.
According to Ben Linsey from Pro Football Focus, Prescott doesn't crack his rankings as one of the top-three players on the Cowboys. Instead, right guard Zack Martin, linebacker Micah Parsons and left tackle Tyron Smith take the spots as the big trio inside The Star.
"Martin and Smith — two of the best players at their respective positions — are the constants in a re-shuffling Cowboys offensive line," Linsey writes. "They rank first and fourth respectively in PFF’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric at their position since Martin entered the league in 2014."
Prescott did qualify as "also considered," as did defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. However, Prescott's absence from the big three seems troubling.
The two-time Pro Bowler probably would have landed among such rankings had he finished the season consistently at a high level. Despite posting five games with a 100-plus passer rating through the first six weeks in 2021, Prescott was inconsistent following his return from a calf strain that nixed his Week 7 availability.
Prescott's first game back was the 30-16 drubbing at the hands of the Denver Broncos, which blew out a tire on his MVP-candidacy bandwagon. Although Prescott rebounded the next week against the Atlanta Falcons during a 43-3 thrashing, he posted a 57.6 passer rating the very next week on the road at the Kansas City Chiefs, a 19-9 loss.
Dallas also found ways to win ball games in spite of Prescott's pedestrian performances — by modern standards — with the defense generating 12 takeaways from Weeks 12 to 14, games against the New Orleans Saints, Washington, and the New York Giants wherein Prescott never crested the 100.0 passer rating mark.
The former 2016 fourth-round pick from Mississippi State finished the season with three straight games above 100.0, but his season was pockmarked by a 69.3 rating in the wild-card playoff loss versus the San Francisco 49ers.
On the other side of the coin, having a quarterback in the top-three by default while the Cowboys fail to make the playoffs is not what anyone wants. After all, Trevor Lawrence is considered the best player on the Jacksonville Jaguars via the same metrics.
Additionally, Matthew Stafford didn't crack the Los Angeles Rams' top-three, and they won the Super Bowl last season. Ultimately what Dallas needs from Prescott is consistent play at a high level, which is what they failed to get from their franchise quarterback in the final stretch of the season, regardless of the cause.
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