Frank Reich on Dak Prescott – ‘Always followed his career closely’،
Panthers head coach Frank Reich will pay special attention to Dak Prescott when Carolina takes on the Cowboys on Sunday.
But then again, Reich had his eyes on Prescott from the time the former Mississippi State quarterback was preparing to enter the NFL.
Reich revealed last week that in the weeks leading up to the 2016 NFL Draft, while he was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, he had what he believed to be a much higher grade on Prescott than most people of the league. Reich thought Prescott was easily one of the best quarterbacks in the 2016 draft class.
The Eagles traded up in this draft to get the second overall pick, which they used on quarterback Carson Wentz. Once the Eagles returned the recruiting capital they got for Wentz, it meant Reich wasn’t going to work with Prescott.
But since Reich missed the opportunity to work with Prescott, he said he went out of his way to follow the star quarterback closely because he felt emotionally invested in him.
None of Prescott’s successes — from landing Dallas’ starting quarterback job as a fourth-round rookie to landing a four-year, $160 million contract in March 2021 to That the Cowboys are a Super Bowl contender – didn’t surprise Reich.
“I got a really good grade coming out of Dak,” Reich said last week. “I was on a team that was looking for a quarterback that year. Dak came out. I had a very high rating on Dak Prescott – much higher than the others. I always followed his career closely and I I have a lot of respect for him, and I think he’s playing really good football right now.”
On Sunday, Reich will take a close look at Prescott, who has been on a rampage in recent weeks. Prescott’s passing yardage total has increased every week since Week 6, when he threw for 272 yards against the Chargers. He returned from the Cowboys’ Week 7 bye to pass for 304 against the Rams in Week 8, then passed for 374 yards in Dallas’ Week 9 loss to the Eagles before setting his career high. season with 404 yards against the Giants last Sunday.
Prescott now has 10 career 400-yard passing games; every other Cowboys quarterback has totaled nine.
In another irony related to quarterback recruiting, if Reich had succeeded with the Eagles, Prescott might have been Philadelphia’s quarterback — and Jalen Hurts might have been drafted three years ago by Dallas. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones hinted earlier this season that Dallas wanted to draft Hurts if he fell short in the 2020 draft, but the Eagles drafted Hurts in the second round, before Dallas had the opportunity to select the signalman that the Jones family admired.
“We looked at him very carefully,” Cowboys COO Stephen Jones told 105.3 The Fan last season. “Obviously our guy is Dak, but at the same time, Mike (McCarthy) is a big proponent of continuing to pay attention to the quarterback.”
