Rob Ryan said that when he turns on Dak Prescott tape he sees Russell Wilson

Barring any changes between now and then due to what has happened around the world, NFL free agency is expected to begin next Wednesday.

The Dallas Cowboys, having seemingly already made peace with losing Byron Jones, still have the matters of Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott to tend to. These are two of the most important players on the team and as of now do not have contracts tying them to the team starting Wednesday at 4pm ET.

We have heard rumblings of the Cowboys looking to get something done with Amari which would lead one to assume that Prescott is headed for a franchise tag. This isn’t breaking news by any means, the quarterback’s worth is clearly up for debate and there are a lot of people with opinions on it.

Rob Ryan said he sees Russell Wilson when he watches Dak Prescott

One of the quarterbacks who is paid most handsomely across the NFL landscape is Seattle’s Russell Wilson. It’s amazing to think that 2020 will already be Wilson’s ninth NFL season although time flies and what not.

Russell has accomplished a lot during his days in Seattle and obviously was part of the group that won Super Bowl XLVIII. He has played at an MVP level more often than not since then and established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

Wilson and the Seahawks defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wildcard Round of last season’s playoffs and then ultimately lost on the road against the Green Bay Packers. The year before though Russell and Co. saw their season end at AT&T Stadium thanks to the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaking of those Cowboys, there is one NFL mind that connects Wilson to the quarterback for America’s Team. Appearing this past Wednesday on The Herd former Cowboys defensive coordinator, and most recently Washington Redskins linebackers coach, Rob Ryan said that he sees Russell Wilson when he watches Dak Prescott.

“I think moving the Kellen Moore kid at offensive coordinator, really helped him. I think he does a good job. He doesn’t look like much, but obviously he’s done a nice job. He allowed Dak the freedom to check plays, get in the right plays. And then he allows Dak Prescott, he functioned better from the pocket and then outside the pocket throwing deep than I’ve seen anybody other than Russell Wilson. So this guy is on the tremendous upside. He’s been in the league four years. To me he’s Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson took off played, playing for Seattle, four years. They had great numbers they had all that. But you could feel him on the tape. You could see the leadership. You could see where this guy was going. This quarterback’s the same guy.”

This is obviously a huge statement, but it’s important to note that Ryan attributes a lot of Prescott’s success to offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. That is likely one of if not the main reason that new head coach Mike McCarthy kept Kellen around on his new staff.

There is no question that Dak Prescott took a step in 2019 and improved a lot of his mechanics. Dak himself has gone beyond just Kellen Moore and attributed a lot of what he did last season to new Burleson head coach Jon Kitna.

It’s hard to compare Dak to anyone or even anyone to Russell Wilson. Dak has obviously experienced a lot of success through the first four years of his career, but as many would point out by that point in his own career Russell Wilson had played in two Super Bowls and won one (others would also point out that football is a team game).

For what it’s worth it does say something that someone who coached against Dak Prescott last season would speak so fondly of him. We’ll see if any of that translates into a long-term deal for the quarterback any time soon.