Ex-NFL GM: Dak Prescott, not Jared Goff, should've been No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft
Apparently, Dak Prescott was taken 134 picks later than he should've been
By
John Breech
•
2 min read
If you need something to argue about with your family over the Thanksgiving holiday that doesn't involve politics, here's an idea: You can debate who should've been the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
As you probably already know by now, Rams quarterback Jared Goff was the top pick in April's draft. However, that's not the pick that former Browns general manager Michael Lombardi would've made if he had been running the Rams.
During a recent appearance on Fox Sports' Undisputed, Lombardi said that Dak Prescott, and not Goff, should've been the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
"You keep saying he's a fourth-round pick," Lombardi said as he spoke to panelist Shannon Sharpe, via the Dallas Morning News. "I say to you, he's no longer a fourth-round pick. He is a first-round pick, should've been the first pick overall in the draft. He's better than Carson Wentz, I don't deny that."
After Lombardi insisted that Prescott should've been the top pick, Sharpe pointed out that Prescott has a lot of talent around him in Dallas and probably wouldn't be as good this year if he had been drafted by Los Angeles or Philadelphia.
"The reason I disagree with you on that is I think his uniqueness in terms of his leadership," Lombardi said. "He's got Russell Wilson-esque leadership ability to him. We just don't see it as much as we see it with Russell. If I was advising Jerry [Jones], three weeks ago, I would've said 'We're not going back [to Tony Romo].' This kid has unique leadership skills."
During the month of October, Jones was non-committal about Prescott's future. At the time, the Cowboys were unwilling to publicly commit to Prescott for the rest of the season.
As for Lombardi, who was canned in 2013 after one season as the Browns' general manager, he believes Prescott would've been successful with any team that drafted him.
"I think he is exactly the kind of player, if the Rams drafted him, you build your team around," Lombardi said. "That's what you're looking for because your best player has to set the intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning and that's what Dak does."
In the end, Prescott ended up being the eighth quarterback taken in the draft and the 135th player overall. Needless to say, the Cowboys got a pretty good deal. Goff, Wentz, Paxton Lynch, Christian Hackenberg, Cody Kessler and Connor Cook were selected ahead of Prescott in April's draft.
