Dak Prescott injury lead to new QB for Dallas Cowboys in 2021 NFL Draft?

The Dak Prescott injury could lead to an extremely interesting decision for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Dallas Cowboys were able to escape with a 37-34 win over the New York Giants on Sunday. The 2-3 Cowboys now sit atop the NFC East standings, but their path to the post-season will be much more difficult without quarterback Dak Prescott leading the way.

Prescott suffered an ugly ankle injury on Sunday and was taken off of the field on a cart. It was later determined that Prescott suffered a compound and dislocation of his right ankle. According to Todd Archer of ESPN, Prescott is looking at a four-to-six month recovery process. Simply put, it is now the Andy Dalton show in Dallas.

While the Dallas Cowboys are still leading the NFC East, it is difficult to imagine this team being good without Prescott. Their defense has been absolutely terrible and injuries have significantly hurt their offensive line. Now that they have lost their star quarterback, the Cowboys will struggle to be competitive this season.

Top 2021 NFL Draft quarterbacks could be tempting for Dallas Cowboys

They should not be considered among the favorites to hold the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but they could be picking much higher than we previously expected. With this being the case, the Cowboys may be in a position to make a move at the quarterback position if they wish.

Prescott has been fantastic for this team and undoubtedly deserves to be paid like a true franchise quarterback. However, the Cowboys have seemed hesitant to lock him into a long-term extension, opting to take care of other players first. Dallas has an ugly cap situation going forward and were always going to struggle to fit a massive Prescott extension in under the cap. Now, there may be another path to success for this team.

If the Dallas Cowboys end up holding a high pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, they could opt to let Prescott walk in free agency and take a new franchise quarterback early. I would not call this a particularly likely scenario for this team, but if the Cowboys find themselves in a position to land a premier quarterback prospect like Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields or Trey Lance, this option must be taken seriously.

Make no mistake about it, Dak Prescott is a premier NFL quarterback who the Dallas Cowboys should have locked into a long-term extension a long time ago. However, their hesitation to do so makes me wonder if they could look in a different direction.

Moving forward with Lawrence, Fields or Lance would allow this team to still have a potentially great player at the quarterback position and also clean up their cap situation. Letting Prescott leave would obviously be an incredibly difficult decision to make, but do not count out the possibility if the Cowboys struggle to find many more wins this season.