Cowboys news: NFL analyst calls Dak Prescott best young QB to build a team around

NFL Analyst chooses Prescott as his ‘franchise QB for the next decade’ - Khari Murphy, Cowboys Wire
Which under-30 NFL QB would you choose to lead your team for the next decade? On the Move the Sticks podcast, Bucky Brooks has a surprise selection.

“I’m going with the guy that is going to lord over the NFC East for the next decade and that is Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott is the guy that I want to be the franchise quarterback for the next decade. When you just think about his short list of accomplishments: 16 times he’s had a passer rating over 100, his record in 32 games is 22-10, 45 touchdowns and only 17 interceptions, and finally they got all the ‘bad’ guys out the building and now it's Dak’s team.

We finally get an opportunity to see what he can do. We are talking about a guy who came into the league as a fourth-rounder, which is really unbelievable. This guy is talented, he’s a franchise quarterback and everybody, the league will soon see, why he’s going to be the best quarterback in the league for the next decade to come.”

Two Cowboys make NFL.com's top players from 2016 draft - David Carr, NFL.com
Carr, 11-year NFL veteran and current analyst for NFL.com, ranks his top 10 players from the 2016 draft ahead of the 2018 season. Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott both make the list.

4. Ezekiel Elliott

Elliott's emotional roller coaster of a season -- one that included a six-game suspension -- seemed to define the Cowboys' 2017 campaign. Even though he played in just 10 games, Zeke nearly hit 1,000 rushing yards (983). He will once again be the center of the Cowboys' offense and his physical, downhill style behind a stout O-line should boost him back to (or near) the top of the rushing charts. I love how he finishes runs, catches the ball out of the backfield and commits to pass protection. He can do it all.

8. Dak Prescott

Prescott's mental approach is good enough to be among the elite, but he still needs to work on bolstering his skill set and accuracy. He reminds me of a young Russell Wilson, who had to learn how to be a pocket passer and chop up defenses without running out of the pocket. The Dallas quarterback is more suited to beat opponents with his legs and on off-schedule plays, but that doesn't mean he won't get better from the pocket.

How Paul Alexander Plans To Coach A Proven O-Line With Young Talent - Rob Phillips, Dallas Cowboys
Paul Alexander, the Cowboys' new offensive line coach, takes over a talent-rich group looking to return to its dominant ways.

Alexander has a track record of developing and working with productive pros. Tackles Willie Anderson and Andrew Whitworth made multiple Pro Bowls for the Bengals.

“Coach Alexander’s a really smart guy. You can tell that he’s been doing this for a long time,” Frederick said. “He continues to try and teach us those things that he’s bringing in, just trying to give us new tools for our toolbox and help some of these younger guys get up to speed.”

DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyron Smith latest Cowboys to crack NFL Network's 2018 Top 100 list - SportsDay Staff
Lawrence and Smith have their names called.

DeMarcus Lawrence -- No. 34

DeMarcus Lawrence didn't make the NFL Top 100 the last two years, much less the league's top 50 by player vote.

But after tallying 14.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 2017, the Cowboys' premier pass rusher climbed to 34th in the league, NFL Network announced Monday night.

Tyron Smith -- No. 39

Smith may have dropped 21 spots from a year ago, but he's still considered as one of the best offensive linemen in the game.

Examining and reliving Tony Romo’s proudest performance – Bob Sturm, The Athletic
Sturm goes back to look at the game Tony Romo recently called his proudest moment:

SHAM: So what game as a professional, when you go to St Peter’s Desk and he says, “I see, Mr. Romo, you were a football player.” What game are you going to bring in here that is going to show us about Tony Romo? Is there a game that comes to mind?

ROMO: It’s a great question. I mean, some of my most – there’s a couple of game I’m most proud of, I would say. The game in San Francisco back in 2011 to Jesse Holley was a good one. I mean, I broke my ribs, punctured lung and we go in at halftime and I played – it happened in the first quarter – that was probably the second-most, if not, it’s close to the first but the one in Washington was pretty tough.

SHAM: The most pain in which you played.

ROMO: The most pain in which I played. This is before I had ever had a shot of any pain reliever, taken a Toradol pill – anything – the stuff that’s out there. I mean, I’ve never done anything. I’ve taken Advil a couple of times in my life at this point. So, I go into halftime and I’m in pain in there, I’m like “ah just can’t breathe a little bit and stuff” and so they take in and like listen, “you can’t play….” they actually thought, they’re like there’s a chance you’ve cut something with the lung, which is risky, but they don’t know. But I’m like, “well what is it,” and it may not be, but there’s a chance it could be and I’m like, okay.

In typical Sturm fashion, he thoroughly dissects the game through gifs and emerges wondering whether Romo's sacrifice ended up costing him in the future.

The guy had some great days, but you heard it from him. If there is one game that showed us what Tony Romo was all about, this would be the one. He broke ribs, punctured a lung, eluded the medical staff to re-enter the game, and found a way to win. He won NFC Player of the week and would not miss a start, as the following Monday, he helped lead a home win against Washington.

This is the game he is most proud of. I love the guts and courage he showed; that’s a big part of why we feel the way we do about this game. But I’m left wondering the degree to which days like this shorten a career. He took a beating behind a substandard offensive line. People forget that because they see three All-Pros there now. It wasn’t always like that. In fact, the abuse he took from 2010-2013 caused the Cowboys to change their ways and build a line with the goal of prolonging his career in 2014 and beyond. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. By the time they were better, his body was nearly broken.

It's time to start using 10 personnel - Gillia Baattai, The Landry Hat
Our own Tom Ryle wondered about this in early May: Could the Cowboys actually use a personnel group that has been absent for three years from the Cowboys' offense?

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and head coach Jason Garrett have been bullish on certain concepts and packages. In 2016 and 2017, the Cowboys ran plays out of their 11 personnel, (one running back/one tight end), 612 and 611 times.

They ran plays out of the 12 personnel package, (a running back/two tight ends), 206 and 148 times. All while never using the 10 personnel.

But how much of this can be attributed to the actual personnel? A good team dictates its scheme and system around what type of players it has, not the other way around. The Cowboys are built to run the football. With a top-tier offensive line and a top three running back, an emphasis on four wide receivers is not the priority.

The top 50 NFL players for 2018 - Sam Monson, Pro Football Focus
PFF has shortened their annual list of the top players in the NFL from 101 to 50 and in the first installment Monson tabs Cowboys' left tackle Tyron Smith the 46th best player in the league.

At his best, Smith is arguably the best tackle in the game, but injuries have become an ever-increasing spectre hanging over his career. It would be tough to head into the 2018 season absolutely certain we’ll see the best Smith we could see at left tackle for the Cowboys. His run-blocking hasn’t been as strong as we have seen from him since 2015 and he surrendered 21 total pressures despite missing time last year through injury.

Biggest steal of the 2018 NFL draft - Luke Easterling, The Draft Wire
Easterling has a series on each team's "biggest steal" and thinks the Cowboys did well with their 7th-round pick.

At 6-1, 228 pounds, Scarbrough is a powerful runner with impressive explosiveness for his size. He’s got the frame to break tackles at the first and second levels, and the top gear to run away from remaining defenders if he makes it into the secondary. Putting him on the field fresh to pound on defenses who have been trying to contain Elliott is an ideal situation for the Dallas offense.

Injuries have been the only thing holding Scarbrough back throughout his career, so if he can avoid those at the next level, he could be a valuable weapon for an offense that needs as many as possible after losing both Dez Bryant and Jason Witten this offseason.

Cedrick Wilson receiving top praise from Cowboys WR coach in OTAs - Patrik Walker, 247 Sports
The Cowboys are certain to have a fierce competition at wide receiver with 9 players vying for five or six spots. Cedrick Wilson is impressing at OTAs.

Standing a shade under 6-foot-3, he's taller than Williams, Cannon and Thompson, an attribute that combines with an above-average wingspan, hand size and vertical jump to make him a nightmare assignment for smaller defensive backs. If the ball is anywhere near his impressive catch radius, he's inhaling it. Better still, his high football IQ is already ingratiating him with the Cowboys' staff, particularly new wideouts coach Sanjay Lal -- who sounded like a kid in a candy store in describing what he's already seeing from Wilson in OTAs.

"Ced[rick Wilson] has picked up the offense better than most of the guys in the room," said Lal, via The Doomsday Podcast. "And now it's becoming like, 'Okay, we need a guy to run in there? Ced, go in', and he knows what to do. [On Wednesday] he scored a touchdown, so he's ...coming along. I'm very happy with it."

From The FanPosts

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Rico Will Get Garrett Fired - SeekingNumberSix, Blogging The Boys FanPost
SeekingNumberSix muses on something that has intrigued me, the possibility that Jason Garrett's stubbornness results in another athletically gifted tight end making plays for a team other than the Cowboys, and what that could mean for Jason Garrett's future with the Cowboys.

But what if Rico ends up with another club, one that is happy to have a pass catching TE with monstrous dimensions?

What if that other club finds a way to use him without asking him to block so much or so well? Jimmy Graham is a prime example of this. If Rico does nothing else but win on jump balls in the end zone, he will impact an offense for someone in a big way. Defenses will have to double cover him, leaving WRs in man coverage. He could draw a lot of pass interference penalties as well.

The argument can certainly be made that if Dallas cuts Rico and misses the playoffs and he thrives somewhere else this season, while Dallas has red zone struggles all year, Garrett could be and should be, fired.