Last offseason, the Dallas Cowboys made Dak Prescott the highest-paid player in the NFL. That is a frustrating situation for many people who aren’t sold on what this veteran quarterback can offer them. Whether it’s wilting against stronger teams or underwhelming in the playoffs, many fans have pause on just how far their franchise quarterback can take him.

While Prescott has been successful most of his career, things have been a little bumpy in recent years. He’s battled injuries in four of the last five seasons and led the league in interceptions in 2022 despite missing five games. Twice over the last five years, the Cowboys have finished with a losing record. Those happened when Dak’s year was cut short by a season-ending injury; however, the team had a losing record before Prescott went down. Losing their quarterback takes the wind out of the season, but if we’re being honest, the wind wasn’t blowing strongly before he got hurt.

The Dak problem has been dissected ad nauseam, and there are several contributing factors. Play-calling matters. How well the offensive line is playing matters. And it certainly helps when he gets some help in the running game.

Another element that holds a lot of influence is his receiving weapons. There have been multiple instances in Prescott’s career where the front office has grossly misjudged the talent at the wide receiver position. We all remember the post-Dez Bryant era where they tried to supplement talent with a trio of characters such as Allen Hurns, Tavon Austin, and Deonte Thompson. Yikes. They ran into a similar issue after moving on from Amari Cooper when Noah Brown was relied on far more than he should’ve been. And most recently, the team had to count on third-year receiver Jalen Tolbert to pick up the slack after Brandin Cooks got hurt, and suffice it to say, it was meek at best.

Prescott’s stats over his career are indicative of the team’s ups and downs at wide receiver. It’s easy to tell when he’s had good receivers and not-so-good receivers. Four times he’s finished with a completion percentage of less than 67%.

His QB rating follows a similar path. Three times he’s finished with a QB rating less than 95, including twice over the last three years.

Those same three seasons show up when you look at the years he’s averaged 7.3 yards per attempt or less over his career.

The years 2017, 2022, and 2024 repeatedly stand out like a sore thumb for Dak. What’s going on in those years?

If we suspect lack of weapons is playing a big role in that, how do those years stack up to the others in terms of wide receiver talent? Sure enough, there is another cutoff when it comes to the total yards of the team’s second wide receiver.

Terrance Williams, Noah Brown, and Jalen Tolbert are the three lowest WR2 producers over Prescott’s career, all under 650 yards for the year.

The Cowboys have an alpha in CeeDee Lamb, and now, after the trade for George Pickens, they’ll have one of the better WR2s in the league. Pickens has a 17-game average of over 1,000 yards over his career, and that number is over 1,100 yards if you throw out his “measly” 801-yard rookie season.

When the quarterback makes $60 million per year, people have high expectations. And rightfully so. But a QB is still one player, and he needs help if the team is going to make any serious noise. With Pickens, Dak has that help. And barring this ordeal blowing up in the Cowboys’ face, Pickens should be able to deliver some top-end WR2 help that could once again propel this offense up the ranks.