Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott broke the market just before the start of the 2024 season, as the big news of the end of the NFL offseason, when he ended contract speculation and got a $60 million per season contract for the next four years.

However, just before Week 1 of the season and after the first two months of the season, the pressure has multiplied for the Cowboys passer, after a disappointing season, where they are 3-4 and have shown a considerable drop in performance compared to 2023.

While the drop-off in play is widespread, the spotlight is on Prescott‘s performance, with the argument that he does not deserve such a salary and reaffirms his critics, who claim that he does not have the talent to take the team to the next level and transcend in the playoffs.

After their first seven games, Prescott has been forced to carry the team’s offense, which has no running game and shows serious problems in the functioning of its offensive line, which does not protect well and does not open holes to run. As a result, he has produced a lot of yards and has already thrown 10 touchdown passes, but also eight interceptions, one less than the total he recorded in the entire 2023 season (9).

For every interception, Prescott throws just over one touchdown. The number is below his historical average, which is 2.59.

Except for the 2020 and 2022 campaigns, when he lost playing time through injury, Prescott had much more productive starts with the Cowboys. Even his best record dates back to the 2016 season, when he came into the league as a fourth-round recruit.

In the first seven games of that season, Prescott had a 4.5 ratio with nine touchdowns and only two interceptions. That’s why that season he caused a stir among fans of the league, who hoped to have found a gem, for his ability to take care of the ball and his explosiveness to score.

A high-level quarterback, who is on the decline

In fact, in his eight seasons in the league, Prescott had maintained a more than reasonable performance to be considered among the top 10 in the league (never elite). In 2017, he had 14 touchdowns and four interceptions in his first seven games (a ratio of 3.5).

By 2018, the ratio dropped to eight touchdowns to four interceptions, for a 2.00 mark. In 2019, he began the campaign with seven interceptions and 13 touchdowns, with a ratio of 1.85. In 2020, he was only able to play six games before suffering a broken ankle that cost him the rest of the season.

But he came back strong in 2021, when he started with 16 touchdown passes to four interceptions and a 4.00 ratio. While in 2023 he had an average start with 10 touchdown passes for five interceptions, for a ratio of 2.00, in a season where his main mission was to take care of the ball, after in 2022 he threw the highest number of interceptions of his career, with 15 interceptions.

In 2023, Prescott threw his highest number of touchdowns (36) in exchange for nine interceptions, for an annual ratio of 1.5, in addition to accumulating 4,516 yards, his highest total under Mike McCarthy, so the drop in his performance has been worrying for many analysts, since, although he is not among the elite passers, he is one of the best in his position since his arrival in the league and has not been able to replicate his numbers.

Prescott acknowledges his drop in performance

Faced with the evidence, Prescott was questioned by the press on Thursday about this drop in his numbers and the team’s performance, as he has also stopped running with the ball, to the point of being ranked 37th at his position on the season, with fewer rushing yards than the likes of veteran backups Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton, who have seen limited playing time on the field.

He simply acknowledged: “It’s bad… A lot of statistics are crazy… [It’s] bad,” after in the last two seasons, he led one of the most productive offenses in the league.