Chad Ochocinco just created a Dak Prescott firestorm without blinking

For the past decade, most Dallas Cowboys fans have been fighting the good fight: trying to convince the football world that Dak Prescott is a top-flight quarterback.

It hasn’t been easy, but the 2025 season did plenty to enlighten folks that Prescott sits at the bottom of the Cowboys’ laundry list of shortcomings. In many scenarios, Dallas would’ve been in the mix for a top-five pick. That’s how wretched the defense was. Prescott dragged the team to a 7–9 finish, yet his play was worthy of a 12-win campaign.

While Prescott played borderline heroic football for most of the season, critics will cherry-pick the final record and use it to bolster their argument that he isn't a winning player or capable of making a deep playoff run.

Chad Ochocinco doesn't believe any of that. The former All-Pro wide receiver appeared on the All City DLLS podcast and said some things about Prescott that won't be well-received outside of Dallas.

"Dak is a great quarterback. When we talk about some of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, Dak's name should be mentioned," Ochocino said.

"Every time you talk about quarterbacks and having a chance and always being in contention, Dak is in the conversation. Every year, the Cowboys will have a chance to contend for a title. Now, there's problems on the defensive side of the ball. Once you address that, it makes the job easy. "

Chad Ochocinco believes Cowboys' Dak Prescott is a 'great' quarterback

Talk about lighting a match and walking away. Ochocinco did not blink in his assessment of the Cowboys' quarterback.

You can debate whether Dak is a "great" quarterback until you're blue in the face. Prescott's body of work is indicative of a really good-to-great player at the position. And when you have one of those, you have a chance to win it all. It really is that simple.

In his last two healthy seasons, Prescott has thrown for 66 touchdowns to 19 interceptions while averaging 266.7 yards per game.

From 2020 to 2025, Prescott ranks sixth among QBs with a 0.164 EPA per play, per RBSM. He climbs to third -- above Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Matthew Stafford, and Justin Herbert -- if you only include QBs who've played at least 2,000 snaps. That filter removed players like Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, and Drake Maye from consideration.

READ MORE: Ranking the top 10 Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks of all time

While Prescott's legacy will ultimately be defined by what he accomplishes in the playoffs, it is impossible to deny that he is an upper-echelon quarterback. He doesn't deserve a seat at the Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen table, but the second-tier? Absolutely.

ESPN and FS1 talking heads will diminish Prescott because of what he hasn't done in the playoffs, but legacy talk is inherently lazy. It misses the substance of performance and overlooks the countless factors that shape outcomes.

That's not to say that Prescott shouldn't be held accountable for his lack of playoff success. But just because he's still chasing that breakthrough doesn't mean he isn't one of the better QBs in the league. If that were the standard, only 2-3 quarterbacks would be worthy of conversation.

Two things can be true at the same time.