Dak Prescott: Jon Kitna will make me a better player

Will the relationship between quarterbacks coach Jon Kitna and his starter Dak Prescott be the key to unlocking the Dallas Cowboys’ passing attack.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Jon Kitna as an impressive football résumé. Kitna spent 16 seasons in the NFL, starting in a total of 124 games.

Back in college, Kitna led Central Washington University to an NAIA National Championship in 1995. Two years later Kitna won a World Bowl Championship and was named the MVP of the game as a member of the World League of American Football. He was also named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2003 as the 16-game starter for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Kitna played for four different NFL franchises in total, including the Bengals, Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks, and the Detroit Lions. For the past seven years, he’s been coaching high school football. That’s a wealth of football knowledge that Kitna brings to the table. And it’s one of the reasons the Cowboys hired him as the team’s new quarterbacks coach this offseason.

And what’s Kitna’s biggest task in his return to Dallas? Making starting quarterback Dak Prescott a better player. To be more specific, a more accurate and consistent passer. It’s something the fourth-year quarterback has asked his new coach to do.

Here’s what Prescott told ESPN.com about the early relationship between him and his new quarterbacks coach.

"” … it’s much more than I could honestly ask for. Just in the first two days and the teaching sessions, he’s going to push me. That’s what I ask for. He’s going to make me a better player, even when he’s got me out there dead tired and I’m drenched. Bring it. Keep coming. I want more. That’s how I’ve had success, and I know he’ll lead me to it.”"

Kitna has responded very positively to Prescott as well, even comparing his spirals to that of Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, someone Jon played with when he first came into the league. More importantly, the Cowboys new quarterbacks coach believes Dak has the mentality and work ethic to be great. And now they will start making slight adjustments together to help Prescott reach his goals.

The relationship between Jon Kitna and Dak Prescott will be vital to the success of the Dallas Cowboys’ passing game in 2019. Combined with a new scheme being sculpted by Prescott’s former quarterbacks coach, Kellen Moore, the Cowboys are hoping to build on a lackluster passing attack from last season that ranked 23rd in the NFL averaging just 221 yards through the air per game.