The Dallas Cowboys managed to get Dak Prescott signed before kickoff on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. While talks intensified over the last few days, the Cowboys dragged their feet all summer, so fans had come to terms with Prescott playing out the season in the final year of his contract.
Given how polarizing Prescott is in the national media, he was always going to face criticism after becoming the highest-paid player in NFL history, regardless of whether it was with Dallas.
Cowboys fans can count on analysts like Dan Orlovsky and LeSean McCoy to lead that charger Unsurprisingly, though, it was Tom Brady who carried that mantle, both on FOX’s pregame show and moments before kickoff.
Making his debut as FOX’s lead color analyst, Brady was reluctant to congratulate Prescott on his historic deal. Ever obsessed with winning at the highest level, Brady echoed the familiar message that Prescott has to earn his contract and now must deliver in the postseason.
Tom Brady challenged Dak Prescott after signing record contract with Cowboys
“Now he’s gotta go out there and earn it,” said Brady, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “2023 was his best season. Going forward it’s going to be what happens in the postseason.”
Who could have seen that coming? That also wasn’t the first time that Brady was critical of Prescott while representing FOX. After it was announced that Brady would be on the call for Cowboys-Browns, the seven-time Super Bowl champion joked “let’s see if he (Dak) can finally come through.”
It was a cheap shot on Brady’s part as he was previewing a Week 1 game. Fortunately, Brady redeemed himself this time around, but Cowboys fans still weren’t thrilled with his analysis. If anything, Prescott’s body of work as a starter “earned” him the contract.
It seems that Prescott heard Brady’s criticism because he led an incredible touchdown drive on Dallas’ second possession. It featured a couple of beautiful throws to CeeDee Lamb and culminated with an excellent blitz recognition on his touchdown to Brandin Cooks, who wasn’t even out of his break when Prescott released the ball. That’s elite level quarterback play.
At the end of the day, Brady is correct in saying that Prescott has to deliver in the postseason. However, that narrative doesn’t follow other QBs that have been paid a lot and don’t have many playoff wins. Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Jared Goff are the only current starters that have at least five playoff wins. That is five QBs, folks.
Many NFL writers and analysts will echo Brady’s analysis of Prescott’s contract, but they should keep that same energy for every quarterback that makes more than $50 million per year.
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