{"id":80584,"date":"2020-02-09T10:22:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T15:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=80584"},"modified":"2020-02-09T10:26:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-09T15:26:24","slug":"trading-dak-prescott-dallas-cowboys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/02\/09\/trading-dak-prescott-dallas-cowboys\/","title":{"rendered":"Trading Dak Prescott Makes No Sense for Dallas Cowboys"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> enjoy making headlines, but this one might take the cake. According to Cowboys legend Michael Irvin<\/a><\/strong>, the Dallas Cowboys are internally discussing the possibility of replacing Dak Prescott<\/a><\/strong> with six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady<\/a><\/strong>. While some may not think Prescott is worth his upcoming extension, replacing him with Brady is a short-sighted move that will make the Cowboys worse in the long-term.<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys Should Not Replace Dak Prescott for Tom Brady<\/strong><\/h2>\n

They\u2019re Similar Quarterbacks<\/h3>\n

Nobody is denying that peak Tom Brady is better than peak Dak Prescott. At the height of his powers, Tom Brady was the best quarterback to ever walk the earth. His six Super Bowl championships, three MVP\u2019s, four Super Bowl MVP\u2019s, and countless accolades speak for themselves. However, Brady isn\u2019t the same quarterback he used to be.<\/p>\n

Last year, Prescott led Brady in just about every important quarterback statistic. According to Football Outsiders, Prescott ended the year ranked 1st<\/sup> in DYAR, 6th<\/sup> in DVOA, and 4th<\/sup> in ESPN\u2019s QBR. Brady, meanwhile, finished 16th<\/sup> in DYAR, 17th<\/sup> in DVOA, and 16th<\/sup> in QBR. Next Gen Stats tells a similar story, as Prescott\u2019s 2.5 completion percentage over expectation beat out Brady\u2019s -3.1<\/p>\n

In fairness to Brady, Prescott had a vastly superior supporting cast in 2019. The Cowboys quarterback had one of the best offensive lines in the league, an elite receiver in Amari Cooper<\/a><\/strong>, and two strong starters in Michael Gallup<\/a><\/strong> and Randall Cobb<\/a><\/strong>. Brady, meanwhile, had an average-at-best offensive line, the beaten-up corpse of Julian Edelman<\/a><\/strong>, and nothing else.<\/p>\n

If placed into a neutral environment, the 2020 versions of Dak Prescott and Tom Brady are probably similar quarterbacks. Pro Football Focus attempts to isolate these outside factors and grade quarterbacks based on what they control. While PFF is far from perfect, it\u2019s probably the best metric publicly available for evaluating quarterback play. By their rankings, Dak Prescott was the 10th<\/sup>-best quarterback in the league, and Brady was 12th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Dak Prescott Provides Longterm Certainty<\/h3>\n

Even if you believe that Brady represents a significant improvement on Prescott, he\u2019s not a long-term fix at the position. Brady will be 43 during the 2020 campaign and has publicly expressed a desire to play until he\u2019s 45 years old. Even if he continue his improbable victory over Father Time, this leaves the Cowboys with two or three years of Brady. Sooner or later (read: sooner) the Cowboys are going to make a considerable investment in the quarterback position.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s assume that the Cowboys get two additional first-round picks by trading Prescott to the New England Patriots. This should give them the draft capital to move anywhere they want and draft any quarterback they desire. If the Cowboys can use these picks to draft a quarterback as good or better than Prescott, then this move might make some sort of sense.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, it\u2019s hard to find a quarterback better than Dak Prescott. The NFL Draft is a glorified crapshoot, and landing a franchise quarterback with a first-round pick is anything but a given. Since 2011 (the first year of the current CBA), 28 quarterbacks have been selected<\/a> in the first round. Of those 28, only Patrick Mahomes<\/a><\/strong> is definitely better than Dak Prescott. One could make the argument that guys like Deshaun Watson<\/a>, Andrew Luck<\/a><\/strong>, and Carson Wentz<\/a><\/strong> are on the same level, but Prescott is still better than the vast majority of first-round quarterbacks. Mathematically speaking, there\u2019s a good chance that the Cowboys wouldn\u2019t be able to find a better long-term option than Prescott, even with the additional draft capital.<\/p>\n

Tom Brady won’t dramatically improve Dallas’ chances of winning in the short-term and the search for a replacement will make the Cowboys worse in the long term. Whether\u00a0Jerry Jones<\/strong> likes it or not, the best move for the Cowboys is to pay Dak Prescott.<\/p>\n

Main photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>