jday
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A week or so ago, I highlighted the traits that set Romo apart and placed him in the “elite” conversation. Today’s focus are on the qualities that I believe will ultimately and eventually place Dak in the “elite” conversation. Like Romo, these qualities Dak possesses are not immediately apparent. Had these qualities been evident prior to the draft, he would have been taken first overall and the Cowboys would not have had a chance at Dak even at fourth overall where they took Zeke…much less utilizing a bottom of the fourth round compensatory pick.
The first thing that stands out, and to a degree, was obvious in the early going, was his natural disposition towards being a leader of men. This attribute alone, however, was not enough for teams to deem him worthy above the other candidates available in the 2016 draft, because of his perceived lack of the physical tools to be successful in the NFL.
Therein is the rub that makes scouting and judging players based on their college tape (and the tape alone) often times a trivial pursuit. The tape, while it doesn’t lie, does lack the value of foresight and projection. One thing a scouting department can due to bridge that gap is look at the player’s progression from one year to the next throughout their college career. But more on that in a moment.
Admittedly, prior to being drafted by the Cowboys, Dak was not on my radar. I am ashamed to admit I accepted the Tebow-comparisons without doing my homework on him to come to my own conclusions and started looking at the other options that may be available to the Cowboys.
After the Cowboys drafted him, I committed myself to learning what it was the front office saw in him. Ideally, when sitting down to watch a player, I like to see games from his most recent season and slowly work my way back through each year in college. Then I go back to the latest year to get a feel for how he has progressed from his first year to his last. This is, of course, simply an eye test. I am by no means a scout; this is purely for my own edification and, in general, rarely do I plan on sharing my findings with anyone because there are already people on this site that do a much better job of it than I am able. Like many of you, I know a few things to look for, but by no means am I breaking down their position specific technique.
If you’re curious how I do this, simply Google the team schedule from each year, find the games against ranked competition (ideal), and then use the various online mediums to find those particular games; YouTube is an excellent resource for this method, especially if you have a smart TV you can cast the games to.
The very first thing you will notice if you watch Dak’s progression from year 1 to year 4 is that he slowly developed from a run first quarterback into a pass first quarterback. This is not just obvious on the tape; the stats support that assertion:
In 2012, he had a measly 29 attempts, 18 completions for 194 yards, only 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. In 2013 he had 267 attempts, 156 completions for 1, 940 yards, 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. In 2014 he had 396 attempts, 244 completions for 3,449 yards, 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. And, finally, in 2015 he had 477 attempts, 316 completions for 3,793 yards, 29 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Am I the only one who sees the trend that emerged over his four year career?
Just for fun: In his rookie season as the starting Quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys he had 459 attempts, 311 completions for 3,667 yards, 23 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Keep in mind, he only played in 13 games in 2015 versus 15 in the 2016 NFL regular season (Dak sat out the last game against Philly). Considering his numbers, though, one could conclude that despite the leap from the college ranks to the NFL ranks, he seamlessly made the transition. And if you actually watched Dak in his senior year, you will notice there was very little difference other than the color of his jersey and the talent-level that surrounded him in terms of how he played.
In truth, 32 teams scouting departments, including that of the Dallas Cowboys, may have screwed the proverbial pooch in their early assessment of Dak. I say “may” because for all we know the scouts from various NFL team’s responsible for following Dak may have stood up on the table, jumping up and down screaming at anyone who would listen that Dak was more than the sum of his measurable parts and the various front offices/coaches simply overruled him on draft day. There were reports that a similar exchange happened with the 49ers, however, it was Chip Kelly (the Head Coach at the time) who begged his General Manager Trent Baalke to consider drafting Dak earlier and was refused.
As such, the first conclusion I came to was whomever claimed he was Tebow-like, did not do their due diligence. Certainly, there are comparison between the two players you can still draw, however, ability as a passer is not one of them. By his senior year, Dak was on another level from Tebow and those comparisons were borderline insulting.
The second thing that jumps off the screen, particularly in his senior year, is his release. Like Romo, Dak has a ridiculously fast wind up and release that executes in Nano-seconds. Also, while his passes at times lack ideal velocity, placement of the ball grossly improved over his time as the signal caller for Mississippi State; once again, the stats suggest as much.
The last thing you might notice beyond the tape is what Dak was able to accomplish at Mississippi State; which is not a program synonymous with winning football. Despite fielding an offer from LSU, a team that has a rich history of winning football, Dak opted to go to Mississippi State instead because in his words, “I wanted to start a new tradition instead of perpetuating an established one.”
On October 12, of 2014 following a convincing win over Auburn (38 to 23), the Mississippi State Bulldogs were ranked number 1, which based on my brief Google/Wikipedia research may have been the first time in team history. So, mission accomplished Dak.
The significance of that should not only be apparent to you the reader, but it should have resonated with teams league wide, and oddly did not. If you are still in the dark, lemme splain:
Great players coming out of high school have a tendency to choose the best programs they can qualify for so that their talents have the greatest chance to be showcased in the best possible light for NFL scouts. As such, Mississipi State’s recruiting until Dak entered the picture was subpar as compared to the rest of the SEC; and likely continued to be so after his arrival. Surrounded by players who were passed-over by the likes of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, etc, Dak single-handedly elevated the play of his teammates and bridged the gap in overall talent comparisons. During the Dak era of Mississippi State he was a pseudo-deity to the Bulldog faithful.
I am reminded of a conversation that transpired in the wake of the Cowboys drafting Taco Charlton in the 2017 draft over TJ Watt. The front office indicated that with Taco they saw what he could do on tape. TJ Watt, on the other hand, was a linebacker who had never played with a hand on the ground and therefore the Cowboys could not get comfortable with the idea of taking a projection over a known-commodity. This same kind of thinking may have hurt Dak’s draft stock…especially considering the fact that the quarterback position is the most critical component to a team.
Unfortunately, the draft Dak declared for featured several quarterbacks that possessed measurable physical traits that labeled them what was considered at the time a safer bet over Dak, who was viewed by many as a 2 to 3 year project. Furthermore, they all were predominantly pocket passers from day one of their college career. If you are the starting Quarterback for a college program, it is assumed you possess the requisite intangible qualities and intellect to be a quarterback and as a result, often times those intangible qualities are considered a wash from one player to the next. What makes Dak special compared to the 7 quarterbacks drafted before him, after all, is, in truth, beyond measure.
To place Dak in the “elite” conversation, you have to dig deeper beyond the tape. His arm strength, footwork, overall accuracy, and the other collection of traits scouts look for is by no means elite. Like Dak’s good friend Zeke, one of things that sets him apart from his peers is how well he does everything the position demands; he has an excellent, but not elite balance of arm strength, footwork, accuracy, great feel for running with the ball, despite his lack of top-end speed; excellent spatial awareness. Unlike Zeke, that, however, is not what places Dak in the elite conversation.
Dak is intangibly elite. Will. Character. Charisma. Drive. Focus. Attention to detail. Work ethic. Maturity. Intellect. Self-confidence. Self-esteem. Loves football (practice / film room / weight lifting / meetings / all of it – not just the games). These are the buzz-words you hear when ex-coaches from high school, college and now his current coaches in the NFL, gush about when attempting to describe what makes Dak Prescott special. And all those words do certainly apply. But what makes Dak special beyond measure, in my mind, is his self-awareness.
Self-Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation and emotions. Self-Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment. In laymen’s terms, this simply means Dak is incapable of lying to himself. He is cognizant of both his strengths and weaknesses and furthermore has a clear conception of how much better he could be provided he continues to work.
Therein is the key; the difference between players out of the league in 3 to 5 years and the lifers who finally hang up their cleats in their late thirties. Hard work got them there; hard work will keep them there. The moment the hard work stops, the career is sure to follow.
But, that aspect of Self-Awareness is not necessarily what will ultimately put Dak in the elite conversation. The characteristic of this quality that will truly decide rather or not he belongs in that discussion is how that will in turn impact the rest of the offense. With Self-Awareness comes an ability to see people for what they really are and not for what they want you to believe. This tool can be extremely useful; especially to someone in a leadership role. With it he is afforded the ability to cut through the lies that people tell themselves (and believe) and hold up a mirror to show them who they really are. And when people see who they really are, people can change. But without the benefit of that true reflection, they will never have the motivation to fix the problems they are clearly unaware of.
How does this apply to being a quarterback in the NFL?
Another QB that seemingly possesses this quality is none other than Aaron Rodgers. There is a prevalent saying that is often parroted in just about every week leading up to a game with the Packers: The Packers will go as Rodgers go. If he doesn’t have a good day; the Packers won’t have a good day. But when Aaron is firing on all cylinders mentally, it doesn’t matter if he physically limping, he will pick the opposition apart and the Packers team, as a whole, will follow suit.
While Dak may need several years under his belt before those comparisons can be taken seriously, he does have the potential. I know Dak has mastered himself and aligned his efforts accordingly to be a success. But can he do the same thing for the entire team? I think so; after all, everything “elite” that happens with Dak Prescott begins and ends between his ears.
Thoughts?
The first thing that stands out, and to a degree, was obvious in the early going, was his natural disposition towards being a leader of men. This attribute alone, however, was not enough for teams to deem him worthy above the other candidates available in the 2016 draft, because of his perceived lack of the physical tools to be successful in the NFL.
Therein is the rub that makes scouting and judging players based on their college tape (and the tape alone) often times a trivial pursuit. The tape, while it doesn’t lie, does lack the value of foresight and projection. One thing a scouting department can due to bridge that gap is look at the player’s progression from one year to the next throughout their college career. But more on that in a moment.
Admittedly, prior to being drafted by the Cowboys, Dak was not on my radar. I am ashamed to admit I accepted the Tebow-comparisons without doing my homework on him to come to my own conclusions and started looking at the other options that may be available to the Cowboys.
After the Cowboys drafted him, I committed myself to learning what it was the front office saw in him. Ideally, when sitting down to watch a player, I like to see games from his most recent season and slowly work my way back through each year in college. Then I go back to the latest year to get a feel for how he has progressed from his first year to his last. This is, of course, simply an eye test. I am by no means a scout; this is purely for my own edification and, in general, rarely do I plan on sharing my findings with anyone because there are already people on this site that do a much better job of it than I am able. Like many of you, I know a few things to look for, but by no means am I breaking down their position specific technique.
If you’re curious how I do this, simply Google the team schedule from each year, find the games against ranked competition (ideal), and then use the various online mediums to find those particular games; YouTube is an excellent resource for this method, especially if you have a smart TV you can cast the games to.
The very first thing you will notice if you watch Dak’s progression from year 1 to year 4 is that he slowly developed from a run first quarterback into a pass first quarterback. This is not just obvious on the tape; the stats support that assertion:
In 2012, he had a measly 29 attempts, 18 completions for 194 yards, only 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. In 2013 he had 267 attempts, 156 completions for 1, 940 yards, 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. In 2014 he had 396 attempts, 244 completions for 3,449 yards, 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. And, finally, in 2015 he had 477 attempts, 316 completions for 3,793 yards, 29 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Am I the only one who sees the trend that emerged over his four year career?
Just for fun: In his rookie season as the starting Quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys he had 459 attempts, 311 completions for 3,667 yards, 23 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Keep in mind, he only played in 13 games in 2015 versus 15 in the 2016 NFL regular season (Dak sat out the last game against Philly). Considering his numbers, though, one could conclude that despite the leap from the college ranks to the NFL ranks, he seamlessly made the transition. And if you actually watched Dak in his senior year, you will notice there was very little difference other than the color of his jersey and the talent-level that surrounded him in terms of how he played.
In truth, 32 teams scouting departments, including that of the Dallas Cowboys, may have screwed the proverbial pooch in their early assessment of Dak. I say “may” because for all we know the scouts from various NFL team’s responsible for following Dak may have stood up on the table, jumping up and down screaming at anyone who would listen that Dak was more than the sum of his measurable parts and the various front offices/coaches simply overruled him on draft day. There were reports that a similar exchange happened with the 49ers, however, it was Chip Kelly (the Head Coach at the time) who begged his General Manager Trent Baalke to consider drafting Dak earlier and was refused.
As such, the first conclusion I came to was whomever claimed he was Tebow-like, did not do their due diligence. Certainly, there are comparison between the two players you can still draw, however, ability as a passer is not one of them. By his senior year, Dak was on another level from Tebow and those comparisons were borderline insulting.
The second thing that jumps off the screen, particularly in his senior year, is his release. Like Romo, Dak has a ridiculously fast wind up and release that executes in Nano-seconds. Also, while his passes at times lack ideal velocity, placement of the ball grossly improved over his time as the signal caller for Mississippi State; once again, the stats suggest as much.
The last thing you might notice beyond the tape is what Dak was able to accomplish at Mississippi State; which is not a program synonymous with winning football. Despite fielding an offer from LSU, a team that has a rich history of winning football, Dak opted to go to Mississippi State instead because in his words, “I wanted to start a new tradition instead of perpetuating an established one.”
On October 12, of 2014 following a convincing win over Auburn (38 to 23), the Mississippi State Bulldogs were ranked number 1, which based on my brief Google/Wikipedia research may have been the first time in team history. So, mission accomplished Dak.
The significance of that should not only be apparent to you the reader, but it should have resonated with teams league wide, and oddly did not. If you are still in the dark, lemme splain:
Great players coming out of high school have a tendency to choose the best programs they can qualify for so that their talents have the greatest chance to be showcased in the best possible light for NFL scouts. As such, Mississipi State’s recruiting until Dak entered the picture was subpar as compared to the rest of the SEC; and likely continued to be so after his arrival. Surrounded by players who were passed-over by the likes of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, etc, Dak single-handedly elevated the play of his teammates and bridged the gap in overall talent comparisons. During the Dak era of Mississippi State he was a pseudo-deity to the Bulldog faithful.
I am reminded of a conversation that transpired in the wake of the Cowboys drafting Taco Charlton in the 2017 draft over TJ Watt. The front office indicated that with Taco they saw what he could do on tape. TJ Watt, on the other hand, was a linebacker who had never played with a hand on the ground and therefore the Cowboys could not get comfortable with the idea of taking a projection over a known-commodity. This same kind of thinking may have hurt Dak’s draft stock…especially considering the fact that the quarterback position is the most critical component to a team.
Unfortunately, the draft Dak declared for featured several quarterbacks that possessed measurable physical traits that labeled them what was considered at the time a safer bet over Dak, who was viewed by many as a 2 to 3 year project. Furthermore, they all were predominantly pocket passers from day one of their college career. If you are the starting Quarterback for a college program, it is assumed you possess the requisite intangible qualities and intellect to be a quarterback and as a result, often times those intangible qualities are considered a wash from one player to the next. What makes Dak special compared to the 7 quarterbacks drafted before him, after all, is, in truth, beyond measure.
To place Dak in the “elite” conversation, you have to dig deeper beyond the tape. His arm strength, footwork, overall accuracy, and the other collection of traits scouts look for is by no means elite. Like Dak’s good friend Zeke, one of things that sets him apart from his peers is how well he does everything the position demands; he has an excellent, but not elite balance of arm strength, footwork, accuracy, great feel for running with the ball, despite his lack of top-end speed; excellent spatial awareness. Unlike Zeke, that, however, is not what places Dak in the elite conversation.
Dak is intangibly elite. Will. Character. Charisma. Drive. Focus. Attention to detail. Work ethic. Maturity. Intellect. Self-confidence. Self-esteem. Loves football (practice / film room / weight lifting / meetings / all of it – not just the games). These are the buzz-words you hear when ex-coaches from high school, college and now his current coaches in the NFL, gush about when attempting to describe what makes Dak Prescott special. And all those words do certainly apply. But what makes Dak special beyond measure, in my mind, is his self-awareness.
Self-Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation and emotions. Self-Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment. In laymen’s terms, this simply means Dak is incapable of lying to himself. He is cognizant of both his strengths and weaknesses and furthermore has a clear conception of how much better he could be provided he continues to work.
Therein is the key; the difference between players out of the league in 3 to 5 years and the lifers who finally hang up their cleats in their late thirties. Hard work got them there; hard work will keep them there. The moment the hard work stops, the career is sure to follow.
But, that aspect of Self-Awareness is not necessarily what will ultimately put Dak in the elite conversation. The characteristic of this quality that will truly decide rather or not he belongs in that discussion is how that will in turn impact the rest of the offense. With Self-Awareness comes an ability to see people for what they really are and not for what they want you to believe. This tool can be extremely useful; especially to someone in a leadership role. With it he is afforded the ability to cut through the lies that people tell themselves (and believe) and hold up a mirror to show them who they really are. And when people see who they really are, people can change. But without the benefit of that true reflection, they will never have the motivation to fix the problems they are clearly unaware of.
How does this apply to being a quarterback in the NFL?
Another QB that seemingly possesses this quality is none other than Aaron Rodgers. There is a prevalent saying that is often parroted in just about every week leading up to a game with the Packers: The Packers will go as Rodgers go. If he doesn’t have a good day; the Packers won’t have a good day. But when Aaron is firing on all cylinders mentally, it doesn’t matter if he physically limping, he will pick the opposition apart and the Packers team, as a whole, will follow suit.
While Dak may need several years under his belt before those comparisons can be taken seriously, he does have the potential. I know Dak has mastered himself and aligned his efforts accordingly to be a success. But can he do the same thing for the entire team? I think so; after all, everything “elite” that happens with Dak Prescott begins and ends between his ears.
Thoughts?
) and laid some GOOD stuff down on him early on.
)
