Dak Prescott is the NFL’s sixth-best quarterback for 2026, according to ESPN’s annual survey of league executives, coaches and scouts published Monday. It is the strongest showing of Prescott’s career in the poll, which Jeremy Fowler has compiled for seven years — and in which the Dallas Cowboys quarterback went entirely unranked a year ago.
The details matter more than the number. Prescott appeared on nearly 75% of ballots with what Fowler described as a healthy share of top-five votes, and the voting showed a clear gap between Prescott at six and the seventh spot. Voters put him behind only Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson — ahead of Justin Herbert, Drake Maye and every other quarterback in the league. “He’s a true, acute progression passer,” an NFL coordinator told ESPN. “There are only so many of those types. He can read the whole field, from pre- to post-snap.”
This is a placement Dallas fans have argued for and rarely gotten. Prescott has spent most of the survey’s history as a fringe top-10 name, dragged down by the 15-interception season in 2022 and the nine games he missed in 2024. The receipts that moved the voters come from the seasons around those: per ESPN’s research, Prescott threw for 9,068 yards and 66 touchdowns across 2023 and 2025 combined, and his four seasons with at least 4,000 passing yards and 30 touchdown passes are tied for sixth all-time — the five men ahead of him are Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers.
The one critique in the piece doubles as a suggestion. “I think he can use his athleticism even more and run for first downs,” an AFC offensive coach said, pointing at Prescott’s modest 177 rushing yards last season. At 32, Prescott is unlikely to become a runner, but the league clearly believes there is a dimension left unused.
On the fantasy side, Prescott’s real-world standing has typically outrun his draft price, and that gap should persist: he attacks the field with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens both playing for numbers — Pickens on a contract-year franchise tag — which supports the passing volume that makes Prescott a value pick outside the top tier of fantasy quarterbacks.
