The Dallas Cowboys‘ offense operated as well as one could’ve hoped for in 2025. After a down year, Brian Schottenheimer was elevated to head coach, and brought in Klayton Adams to help reinvent the attack. The philosophy changed, the blocking scheme changed and the weaponry changed, adding WR George Pickens to All-Pro CeeDee Lamb. The one constant? quarterback Dak Prescott, who has played at an MVP level his last three healthy seasons.
But therein may lie the problem. Prescott plays supremely when he’s available, but he hasn’t strung together back-to-back years of full availability since last decade. And even when he plays the majority of the games, the team still hasn’t cracked the code for playoff success. So as he enters Year 11, there are still a ton of question marks to go along with the three remaining seasons on Prescott’s still league-leading four-year, $240 million contract.
And for a front office that is tasked with winning now and long-term, the thought has to cross their mind… when do they start preparing for the post-Prescott era?
If ESPN’s recent preview of the coming 2027 CFB season is any indication, that opportunity may come as early as next April’s draft.
ESPN has identified next year’s QB crop as potentially being elite with both name recognition and depth. Beyond Arch Manning (Texas) and Dante Moore (Oregon), the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports has another 19 quarterbacks to watch in 2027. That means that pretty much every team that isn’t locked into a young signal caller of the now and future will have plenty of opportunities to nab a potential game changer.
After grabbing their last two franchise QBs in UDFA (Tony Romo) and with a compensatory fourth-round pick (Prescott), this should be music to the Cowboys ears.
Here’s the train of thought.
The Cowboys have two young-ish backups for Prescott. Sam Howell has starter experience and could potentially be that “he just needed seasoning for things to slow down for him” type of player who morphs into a quality player as he gains years in the league. Joe Milton IIII has all of the tools of a star gunslinger, but none of the polish to give confidence he can be the heir apparent.
Those two will battle it out to be Prescott’s primary backup this season.
As for the captain’s chair, Prescott out-negotiated the Dallas brass, not once but twice. Despite several of the league’s top quarterbacks working out deals in the last two seasons, Prescott’s $60 million average hasn’t come close to being approached by any player. He signed on the heels of the Packers’ Jordan Love and the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence matching Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow making $55 million a year. Jared Goff came in just under at $53 million per that spring.
Buffalo’s Josh Allen ($55M) signed after Prescott, and the Rams just extended MVP Matt Stafford for one year, $55 million. That’s the market’s true ceiling, with no owner or agent seeing Prescott’s deal as the standard; it’s a one-off.
Prescott played the Cowboys and for someone with his injury history, that’s an amazing thing to do.
But back to the future. Prescott’s savvy in negotiating means that he’s likely going to command a raise in order to sign an extension, but in a world where winning is the ultimate measuring stick, what happens if the Cowboys don’t make waves in the playoffs this year? That gauntlet set down by the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots going from non-playoff teams to Super Bowl participants in just one season raises the bar of expectations for all.
So if Dallas falls short of a championship game in 2027, why would they not consider taking a shot from a bumper crop of signal callers next spring?
That prospect would have the cover of learning behind Prescott for one or two years, but also giving Dallas the chance to move to the next phase if the youngster showed high potential out of the gate.
Who might that be? Here’s ESPN’s watchlist for potential QBs to follow during the 2027 college football season.
CJ Bailey, NC StateCJ Carr, Notre DameTrinidad Chambliss, Ole MissJayden Maiava, USCArch Manning, TexasDarian Mensah, MiamiDrew Mestemaker, Oklahoma StateDante Moore, OregonJulian Sayin, Ohio StateLaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Next Tier
Byrum Brown, AuburnJaden Craig, TCUJosh Hoover, IndianaNico Iamaleava, UCLAKevin Jennings, SMUDJ Lagway, BaylorSam Leavitt, LSUDrake Lindsey, MinnesotaJohn Mateer, OklahomaMarcel Reed, Texas A&MDemond Williams Jr, Washington
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Will Cowboys look to draft Dak Prescott’s successor in 2027?
