Could Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott win the NFL MVP in 2020?
Following four seasons in which he was severely underpaid as the starting quarterback of the most visible sports franchise, Dak Prescott is looking to break the bank this season with a new contract from the Dallas Cowboys. The two sides have engaged in a long back and forth but outside of the contract situation, there’s nothing but positives for Prescott as he heads into his fifth season in the NFL.
For his career, Prescott boasts an overall record of 40-24 as the starting quarterback for Dallas and has twice won the NFC East. He’s also never had a losing season, with the 8-8 mark of 2019 being the worst record of his young career.
Throughout the success he has had, Dak has been unfairly labeled as a “bus driver,” meaning the credit is often given to his teammates and not him. There’s a belief that Ezekiel Elliott is the most important player and that Prescott not only comes behind him but also Amari Cooper and the offensive line are more to blame for the team’s success.
While it’s true that Prescott struggled at times when he didn’t have Elliott, Cooper, and even Tyron Smith their left tackle, he’s also proven time and again that he can be a winner. And his stat line in 2019 was nothing short of brilliant.
Prescott finished one-yard shy of the franchise’s single-season passing yardage total with 4,902. He’s also the only quarterback not named Tony Romo to throw for more than 30 touchdown passes in a season, finishing the year with a mark of 30 touchdowns and just 11 picks.
However, Prescott — much like Romo before him — receives far too much criticism and that makes it seem laughable to many that he’s asking for MVP-type money. But apparently, there are those who don’t agree that he’s being absurd as oddsmakers have Dak as the sixth most likely NFL MVP this season with the odds sitting at +1800, per Odds Shark, which ties him with Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans.
With that being the case, we look ahead to the 2020 NFL season and identify three reasons that Prescott could finish this coming season with the MVP award.
3. Familiarity with Kellen Moore
One thing that teams have to take into consideration when making a major change is their quarterback. The Cowboys had to cross that bridge this offseason when they decided to move on from Jason Garrett after 10 seasons as the head coach.
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Following his fourth 8-8 finish in that span, fans were more than ready to see the former Cowboys backup quarterback head elsewhere in his coaching career. The problem that the team had to answer was how a change could potentially harm their young quarterback.
It’s not impossible for a player to adapt to a whole new offensive scheme in the offseason but there are cases of such a move taking time to adapt to. And this season, the COVID-19 pandemic has given teams making such an overhaul another obstacle.
For the Cowboys, that shouldn’t be an issue whatsoever. While Garrett has been replaced by Mike McCarthy, the former Green Bay Packers coach decided not to fix what wasn’t broken. He approved of the work Kellen Moore did in his first season as the offensive coordinator and it was easy to see why.
Moore did a great job making things easier on Prescott as the offense was less predictable than they had been in the past. He also had no problem taking deep shots, which Prescott handled very well.
McCarthy allowing Moore to not only stay on board but to also remain the play-caller is going to be a major benefit for Prescott.
2. Weapons, weapons, and more weapons
No quarterback can get it done all by themselves. Joe Montana had Jerry Rice. Troy Aikman had Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin. Even Tom Brady has had his share of solid play-makers with Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker spending time in New England with him.
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The point is, a great quarterback should be able to make his teammates better — but they still need to have the right players around them. In 2018, that wasn’t the case for the Cowboys as they tried to use a committee approach at wide receiver and it failed miserably. In the end, they made a trade for Amari Cooper and his addition has opened up the entire offense.
Ezekiel Elliott ran the ball better, the offensive line seemed to block better, and the remaining receivers on the team started to get better matchup which led to more efficient play from all of them. However, this ended up being an indictment on Prescott which isn’t entirely fair.
However, once his contract negotiation is done, the debate as to how responsible he is for the team’s success will surely take a spot on the back burner. And as long as he just keeps going about his business and distributing the ball to the right players at the right time, he should also be very successful himself.
And as we look at the roster ahead of 2020, there’s no denying this is the most potent offense Dallas has had since the days of Aikman, Smith, and Irvin. Prescott not only has one of the best running backs in the game in Zeke, but he’s got a great No. 2 back in Tony Pollard. Then at receiver, Amari Cooper is joined by Michael Gallup and rookie CeeDee Lamb. Factor in tight end Blake Jarwin and this team is loaded.
Prescott should have no problem putting up numbers similar to what he did in 2019 and should he do this, and have a winning record, he could be in the mix for the most coveted individual award in the league.
1. The foot is finally off the brake
There were some really good qualities in Jason Garrett as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He was even-keeled and kept the team from panicking. He was also a great speaker who was clearly loved by his players — or at least by the majority of them.
Having said that, there was also one fatal flaw — a complete lack of urgency. As great as it was to have a coach who could always keep the team looking forward, Garrett often neglected the here and now. Dallas struggled with understanding key drives and their offense often came out lackadaisical.
Most infuriating was the way they could never keep their foot on the gas as they allowed leads to slip away with their approach. In the end, that had a lot to do with why Garrett struggled. It could also be one of the many reasons they never capitalized on the talent of Tony Romo, and they were getting dangerously close to doing the same thing with Prescott.
With Garrett now in New York as the offensive coordinator for Dallas, the Cowboys offense can finally release the brake. No more playing for field position in every single game. No more thinking this loss doesn’t matter because the next game is the important one. Instead, they have a real shot of treating every single game as if they matter — because they do.
This is something Mike McCarthy understands completely and Cowboys fans have seen it first hand as the former Packers coach has had a lot of success against this very team — including the final playoff loss of Tony Romo’s career and the first playoff loss of Prescott’s.
No player will benefit more from this change in philosophy than Prescott. And should he and the team finally stop letting close games against important rivals slip away, he could be in line for the NFL MVP award in 2020.