The Cowboys could save over $20 million by releasing these four players, but who stays and who goes?

[NoDak]

Sometimes I think fans would rather have a QB throwing for 5,000 yards than making the playoffs and winning games.

Dude's too far in with his "Quincy" play now. He has no choice but to hope he falls flat on his face or he'll end up looking even more stupid than he already does with all the "Quincy" talk.

Yeah... We all wish Dak was the second coming of Joe Montana. To to not at least admit he's an above average QB is just dumb. But to think he's Quincy level? Just proves you don't know jack nor shit about anything concerning QB play. I freely admit, I've bitched about him, too. But this is just moronic.

 

[boozeman]

Sometimes I think fans would rather have a QB throwing for 5,000 yards than making the playoffs and winning games.

That was pretty much the Romo years.

 

[Smitty]

That was pretty much the Romo years.

I’d much rather have 25 year old Romo back than 25 year old Dak. Dak has a running game and defense that Romo only dreamed of. And now, Prescott has decent WRs too, even though it’s no Terrell Owens and Jason Witten.

I think Prescott is decidedly not above average yet.... but he’s not Quincy either.... mot after how he ended the season.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I think Prescott is decidedly not above average yet....

That's not really true. He is above average in QB rating. Above average in passing yards. Above average in completion percentage. Above average in TDs. And way above average in terms of wins. There isn't a good argument that he isn't above average but I'm sure you will make one anyway.

 

[lostxn]

Neither is Prescott. But that won't stop them.

Yeah but you almost can't franchise tag a QB. The price tag is absolutely brutal. Dak has done enough to establish that he is our franchise QB. He is probably one of the lesser franchise QBs in the league but it is what it is.

 

[Cotton]

There isn't a good argument that he isn't above average but I'm sure you will make one anyway.

 

[Smitty]

That's not really true. He is above average in QB rating. Above average in passing yards. Above average in completion percentage. Above average in TDs. And way above average in terms of wins. There isn't a good argument that he isn't above average but I'm sure you will make one anyway.

There isn't a good argument?

This year, Prescott was 15th in total passing yards -- 21st in passing yards per game (ie, he was higher in total passing yards only because he played more games than some of the guys ahead of him in ypg).

He was 10th in completion percentage.

He was 16th in passing touchdowns.

He was 14th in QB rating.

He was 18th in QBR.

He was 17th in yards per attempt.

He was second to last in sacks taken.

And he only resuscitated and salvaged those statistical finishes after a a blazing finish, relatively speaking, after a start where he was near the bottom in all these stats.

So yeah, actually, there's a very good argument.

He's essentially a middle of the pack QB in every major statistical category.

If you want to throw in his intangible and his strong finish, there is maybe an argument to be made -- not that its even going to be relatively convincing to most non-Cowboys fans, but at least you could make a good faith argument -- that he's around the 10th-15th best QB in the league. You can call that above average, maybe.

But in my book, he's decidedly average. I can name at the very least, 11 QBs who are unarguably superior to him (Brees, Mahomes, Wilson, Ryan, Watson, Wentz, Goff, Luck, Brady, Rodgers, Roethlisberger). I can name another 3-4 who generally put up superior passing stats, but who kinda have loser labels, and you could argue you prefer Prescott because of intangible (Stafford, Rivers, Newton, Cousins), but many around the league would consider vastly superior to Prescott. Then I can name a couple of other guys who for various reasons all have arguments that could put them in front of Prescott as well (Mayfield as an ascending rookie, Trubisky as an ascending 2nd year starter, Flacco as a Super Bowl winner, Derek Carr for being in a dumpster fire, etc). I mean, it's reasonable to make a list with Prescott as low as like 18th on it. That's approaching BELOW average range.

I wouldn't go that far. But I can't put him in the above average range either. He's decidedly pretty average at everything.

If he ROUGHLY duplicates his final 8 regular season games over an entire season next year, he would join the Wentz-Goff-Watson category, which is the true above average group. Still behind the elites like Mahomes, Brees, Rodgers, Brady, Roethlisberger, IMO, but in that next tier of ascending stars. But he has to extend that finish over a whole season. If he does, he'll deserve his $100m contract too.

 

[Cujo]

I’d much rather have 25 year old Romo back than 25 year old Dak. Dak has a running game and defense that Romo only dreamed of. And now, Prescott has decent WRs too, even though it’s no Terrell Owens and Jason Witten.

I think Prescott is decidedly not above average yet.... but he’s not Quincy either.... mot after how he ended the season.

This.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

There isn't a good argument?

This year, Prescott was 15th in total passing yards -- 21st in passing yards per game (ie, he was higher in total passing yards only because he played more games than some of the guys ahead of him in ypg).

He was 10th in completion percentage.

He was 16th in passing touchdowns.

He was 14th in QB rating.

He was 18th in QBR.

He was 17th in yards per attempt.

He was second to last in sacks taken.

And he only resuscitated and salvaged those statistical finishes after a a blazing finish, relatively speaking, after a start where he was near the bottom in all these stats.

So yeah, actually, there's a very good argument.

He's essentially a middle of the pack QB in every major statistical category.

You do realize that being above the middle is like the definition of above average?

 

[Rev]

You do realize that being above the middle is like the definition of above average?

Dont let that get in the way of a novel.

 

[Smitty]

You do realize that being above the middle is like the definition of above average?

I realize that’s the mathematical definition. I hope your position has a little more intelligence to it than to be claiming that only the 16th and 17th best QBs in this league are “average,” and everyone else is either above average or below average.

Prescott clocks in somewhere between 12th and 18th or so. You do realize that in a group of 32, that’s pretty much as average as you can get, right? Pretty misleading and disingenuous to say “there’s no argument” that, say, the 14th, 15th or 16th best QB out of 32 is “above average” instead of just average.

 

[Plan9Misfit]

Sometimes I think fans would rather have a QB throwing for 5,000 yards than making the playoffs and winning games.

I’d rather have a QB with strong pocket awareness and the arm talent to consistently complete passes more than 5 yards down the field.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Prescott clocks in somewhere between 12th and 18th or so. You do realize that in a group of 32, that’s pretty much as average as you can get, right? Pretty misleading and disingenuous to say “there’s no argument” that, say, the 14th, 15th or 16th best QB out of 32 is “above average” instead of just average.

It's pretty disingenuous to say a QB who has never had a losing season isn't in the top 16 QBs in the league. But like I said, I'm not surprised you'd try to claim otherwise. You'd have to admit you were wrong about Dak to do that. And you'll never admit you're wrong.

 

[fortsbest]

It's pretty disingenuous to say a QB who has never had a losing season isn't in the top 16 QBs in the league. But like I said, I'm not surprised you'd try to claim otherwise. You'd have to admit you were wrong about Dak to do that. And you'll never admit you're wrong.

But this also doesn't pass the eye test. How much of those "winning" seasons has as much or more to do with Zeke than Dak? I think that's a fair question. What was the record without Zeke, and how did he perform? The first 3 games they didn't score more than 9 points, and he didn't throw for more than 180 yards. Plus there were multiple interception and fumble games. Then they got 3 wins in a row against pathetic teams. So this year, they have Zeke back and all of a sudden, good times again. Dak may be a great guy, a winning personality and even a sometime clutch player. but overall, he is inconsistent, average at best and not capable of carrying a team without a good RB at least, and a top WR for sure.

 

[Smitty]

Ok

It's pretty disingenuous to say a QB who has never had a losing season isn't in the top 16 QBs in the league. But like I said, I'm not surprised you'd try to claim otherwise. You'd have to admit you were wrong about Dak to do that. And you'll never admit you're wrong.

I didn’t say he wasn’t in the top 16. I said he checks in somewhere between 12th and 18th. If you had bothered to read, I said there is a legit argument, not that I’m necessarily making it, that he could be as low as about 18.

I also said he really cannot possibly be higher than 12 or so. To me, that range is as average as it gets.

Your argument seems to be clinging to the fact that 14th or 15th, or whatever, is in the top half of a 32 starter league. Great, whoopie for us.

If there are only two categories, above and below average, then yeah, Dak in the top half. If you want to call that above average, by its exact mathematical definition, go right ahead. But by that definition, can you call any QB in the league average? Everyone is either above or below average.

To me, the top 5, 6, 7, or so guys will generally be elite. 8-12 or so I’d consider above average. 13, 14 through 16, 17, 18 would be average. Below that, into the 20’s, is below average. Everything else is replacement level.

But sure.... if you want to say Dak is the 15th best QB in the league and therefore he’s mathematically above average, have at it.

To me, being the 14th or 15th best QB in the league, which is about where he is, that’s average.

Now, like I said, if he does what he did over the last 8 games for an entire season, where he averaged 278 ypg passing (amazing how we won all those games once his passing ypg went up.... another thing you were dead wrong about BTW), he’’ll jump into the top 7 or 8 QBs, he’’ll be up there with Goff and Wentz and Watson (though still behind Brady, Mahomes, Brees, Rodgers, etc). But he’s not in that tier yet.