Why Dak Prescott must be fully trusted from here on out

ARLINGTON, TX - AUGUST 18: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys looks for an open receiver in the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at AT&T Stadium on August 18, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - AUGUST 18: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys looks for an open receiver in the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at AT&T Stadium on August 18, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Dak Prescott has won two-thirds of his NFL games, but if the Dallas Cowboys hope to have him lead them to the big one, he must have their full trust.

Heading into his fourth season as the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott has won 66 percent of his games with a record of 32-16. While this is a pretty good percentage for any quarterback, it’s especially impressive considering that he has been starting since he was a rookie in the league.

In line for a new deal from the Cowboys, Prescott is projected set to get a raise in the neighborhood of $30+ million per season in new money. While he has certainly earned a contract extension, there are those that question the actual terms of the potential deal.

Most will point to his success as being mostly a function of the team around Prescott. And that if he were to take a ton of money such as the reported number, it would limit his future success due to not having the same amount of help as he has over the past few seasons.

While that notion may not be totally wrong, there is another way to view the scenario. Prescott is not only a quarterback that will be compensated for what he has accomplished already with the Cowboys, but what he could, should, and probably will do in the future.

This not only includes winning games in the future, as that is the main objective, but it also includes the fact that he still has room to grow and get better. If the Cowboys want to see the quarterback become the best version of himself though, they have to start to trust him more.

When it comes to the development of any player, or any person in any profession for that matter, there will be certain lessons that can only be taught by experience. Of course you would love to have a scenario that was as mistake-free as possible, but often times, these mistakes are the very best teachers.

When it comes to Dak Prescott and his situation in particular, the Cowboys have to allow him to attack downfield through the air, more early and more often. They have to allow Prescott to either succeed in these areas immediately or fail early, so that as we move forward with him as the $30 million quarterback it looks like he will be, the chances of mistakes will be less.

Not only is this important for his future development, but while he supposedly has more help, it would allow him the room for error as well. Over the past few seasons, there have been countless occasions in the red zone or in third-down scenarios that the Cowboys have played too conservatively. Instead of giving Prescott the opportunity to make a play, they decided to hand the ball off to Ezekiel Elliott.

Since Elliott has been spoken on, this isn’t saying that they should limit his touches at all or by that many, but there should be at least two or three more occasions per game afforded to let Prescott try to make a play on big downs. That is the only way he will continue to become a fully developed quarterback.

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We can’t be sure if this was a function of Prescott’s inexperience, Scott Linehan’s play calling, or a call from higher than that, but it is something that must be altered. Perhaps the elevation of former Cowboys quarterback Kellen Moore will help in this area. No matter the situation, they must trust Dak Prescott more in key situations to pass the ball if they want to be the best team that they can be.