Cowboys QB Dak Prescott is ready to have a huge season

By: Adam Hulse (@AdamHulseSports)

After a gruesome injury ended his 2020 season short, Dak Prescott is now back and ready to have a huge year in 2021. According to the Draft Kings Sports Book, he is the clear favorite to win the Comeback Player of the Year Award at +200 odds, above the second choice of +700 odds. In addition, he also is the fourth favorite to win the MVP award with +1400 odds. Obviously, if he wins the MVP award this season he will also win the CPOY award easily. Here is why he could win both awards in the 2021 NFL season.

Comeback Player of the Year

Unfortunately for Prescott, a terrible ankle injury during the fifth game of the season ended his year short in 2020. It was the first time in his five-year career so far that he was unable to complete a full season, so it’s very reasonable to believe that he will bounce back to full strength for the 2021 NFL season. The injury is what makes him eligible for CPOY, and if he does in fact pick up where he left off, then he is going to run away with the award. He was on an absolutely ridiculous pace in the 2020 season and could have potentially been on his way to one of the best seasons by a quarterback of all time.

Through his first four games of the season, Prescott threw for a massive 1690 yards. This was not only the most in the NFL that year, but was on pace to set a new NFL record by a very wide margin. If he continued at the rate he was on, he would have thrown for 6760 yards, which have broke the single season passing record by more than 1000 yards over Peyton Manning and his 5477 yards back in the 2013 season with the Denver Broncos. Of course, it’s unlikely that Prescott would have maintained that scorching pace over a full 16 games, but it just demonstrates how good he was before getting injured, and why he will win CPOY in 2021 if he does in fact pick up where he left off.

NFL MVP

In addition to being the clear favorite to win CPOY as long as he looks like himself again, Prescott will also be in the mix to win the NFL MVP award. His huge start to the 2020 season was not necessarily a surprise, as he has consistently been one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL in his career and has improved his game year after year. In the 2019 season, he set new career highs in passing yards with 4902 and passing touchdowns with 30. If he can continue to grow from there, he will once again be towards the top of the quarterback rankings. This is is why he is one of the favorites to win NFL MVP this year.

As long as he is fully healthy, there is no reason to believe that Prescott will not once again have a monster season. The Dallas Cowboys offensive line is still a major strength, Ezekiel Elliot is still in the prime of his career, and he will still have his usual passing targets in Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. One big upgrade in the 2021 NFL season is that he will have the luxury of CeeDee Lamb in the slot for a full season. Lamb was a rookie in 2020 and showed that he has a strong chemistry with Prescott in the short time they had together.

In the five games that Lamb had Prescott as his quarterback, he put up his best number of the entire season. He had a minimum of five receptions in each of those games, recorded his only multi-touchdown game of the season, and eclipsed the 100 yard mark twice. This could be an extremely dangerous combination for many years to come, and could play a major factor in progressing Prescott to the next level. With the addition of Lamb, as well as his own proven progress as a quarterback, Prescott is a real threat to win both the CPOY and MVP awards this coming season.