Dak Prescott has shown off a bunch of skills during this preseason that might lead one to think he can have success at the NFL level. Poise. Accuracy. Arm strength. Touch. Speed. Vision.
He'll need all of those attributes and more to keep the Dallas Cowboys afloat for however long Tony Romo is out with his broken back. One thing he'll need maybe more than anything else is his mind -- the ability to read defenses and adjust on the fly. There isn't a quarterback in professional football that can succeed without it.
Luckily, according to Prescott himself, that might just be his best attribute. "Knowledge-wise, I think I'm the smartest quarterback that came in this class," Prescott recently told USA Today (h/t PFT). "I would love to go on the board and go head to head with anybody else. That's how I feel. That's how confident I am."
Time will tell whether Prescott has a better mind for the game than Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, Christian Hackenberg, Jacoby Brissett, Cody Kessler, Connor Cook, Cardale Jones, Kevin Hogan, Nate Sudfeld, Jake Rudock, Brandon Allen, Jeff Driskel, and Brandon Doughty. For now, it sure looks like Prescott is the only one of those players that's going to be put to the test right from the jump.
If things go anything like they have during the Cowboys' three preseason games, they'll be just fine. As we all know, though, the regular season is a wildly different animal. Prescott will be tested physically and mentally not only on Sundays, but during the week as he prepares to lead the team into each game. He has a lot of help around him in Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, Ezekiel Elliott, and the best offensive line in football, but help can only take one so far. He's got a lot of pressure to deliver in spades.
