NFL world gives Cowboys' Dak Prescott what at this point feels like an unfair backhanded compliment

You would've thought Dak Prescott tearing up the NFL in the regular season to the point of earning second-team All-Pro honors and finishing as the MVP-runner-up behind Lamar Jackson would've slowed down the disrespect for the Dallas Cowboys quarterback but some things never change.

On Monday, ESPN released its Top 10 quarterbacks rankings, put together by polling coaches, execs, and scouts from around the league. In it, Prescott was ranked as the 10th best.

That in itself is fair, I guess, and somewhat of a compliment. However, it kind of feels like a backhanded one: No ballot had him ranked higher than seventh, making him the lone Top 10 quarterback on the list without a top six vote. 27% of the ballots didn't have Dak's name in it.

The perception of Prescott around the league is still very positive - and he'll likely become the highest-paid quarterback in the league soon - but it's wild to think no one voted for him higher than seventh when he's put in the results and while many of the concerns are playoff related, there are several QBs ranked above him that have little playoff success to show off.

Prescott finished the 2023 NFL season with the second highest quarterback EPA/play and success rate, per RBSDM. Out of 41 qualifying quarterbacks, Prescott finished fourth in big-time throw percentage, per PFF. The best part? Even though he was making these outstanding throws, he risked the ball very little, ranking 35th in turnover worthy play percentage.

If you prefer traditional stats, he led the NFL in passing touchdowns (36) and completions (410) while finishing third in yards (4,516). But no top six vote? Even Jared Goff got at least one.

Prescott's low ranking seemingly has a lot to do with the team's playoff success (or lack thereof) , which has been perhaps the biggest knock to his career going into Year 10. Consider the below quote from an anonymous NFC exec via ESPN:

"He always does well enough to be in the top 10 but never gets over the hump. He makes all the throws. He's playing the position at a high level. But something's missing. There are a lot of factors in that, from the running game, playcalling, defense, and Dallas hasn't won in a long while. But certain guys are going to elevate their team late in the game, and Dak doesn't seem to do that."

I guess unsurprisingly, this will be Prescott's story until the narrative changes with more strong performances in the postseason. And although I'm in agreement that the playoff criticism is fair at this stage of his career, I do wonder if NFL decision makers (as well as fans and media) get carried away with a team success metric while damaging their own evaluation process of one of the best QBs in the league.

Related: The rest of the NFL just told us maybe the Cowboys didn't mess up their Tyron Smith decision