Dak Prescott

Top 5 2019 Pro Bowl snubs

Chris McGlynn Football, NFL , , , , , , , ,

88 players were named to the NFL’s Pro Bowl roster on Tuesday night. The majority of the selections are well-deserved after a long season. However, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some very notable snubs. Every year there are a couple of players who should’ve made the cut that get left out in the cold. I am going to break down who should be heading to Orlando in January and who they should replace on the current roster.

Prescott has thrown for nearly 1,200 more yards than Rodgers this season. (Wikimedia Commons)

Dak Prescott, QB, Cowboys
This might be the worst snub of them all. Prescott is in the midst of his best NFL season yet. He is second to only Jamies Winston in yards per game and fifth in yards per attempt. He has 26 touchdown passes to 11 interceptions and a solid 65.5 completion percentage. Yet somehow Prescott was over looked in favor of Aaron Rodgers. In most years, this would be totally acceptable. However, Rodgers is having one of his worst seasons in recent memory. He ranks 15th in yards per game and yards per attempt as well as 18th in completion percentage. The biggest thing he has going in his favor is his 12-1 touchdown to interception ratio. However, outside of smoking the Raiders, the Packers quarterback has had a fairly pedestrian year. Prescott was far more deserving of the spot than Rodgers.

Marcus Williams, SS, Saints
While most will probably remember Marcus Williams for missing that tackle during the Minneapolis Miracle (sorry Saints fans), he is actually one of the best young safeties in the league. This season he is tied for fifth in the NFC in pass breakups and tied for second in interceptions. He is first among safeties in both those categories. Williams also owns an incredible grade of 90.1 from PFF in 2019. He certainly should have beaten out Budda Baker and Eddie Jackson to make the Pro Bowl roster. Both have had good seasons, but Williams is an elite playmaker.

No Patriots offensive players made the initial Pro Bowl roster. (Wikimedia Commons)

Julian Edelman, WR, Patriots
It has not been the same kind of success we are used to seeing for the Patriots offense, but Edelman should still be on the Pro Bowl roster. He is third among receivers in the conference in yards and second in receptions. With no one else to really draw attention this season on New England, it makes Edelman’s performance even more impressive. He should have beaten out Jarvis Landry for that final receiver spot. Edelman has close to identical yards and touchdowns, but slightly edges Landry in both categories.

Yannick Ngakoue, DE, Jaguars
You could certainly argue for Justin Houston to be here as well, but he hasn’t made as many impact plays as Yannick Ngakoue. The Jags defensive end has eight sacks and 15 tackles for loss. He also has five pass deflections, three forced fumbles and an interception for a touchdown. He has been a rock for Jacksonville even if the rest of his unit has struggled this season. He beats out Frank Clark in just about every meaningful category and has graded out higher on Pro Football Focus. Seems like a no-brainer to make it over Clark.

Schobert made the Pro Bowl in 2017. (Wikimedia Commons)

Joe Schobert, LB, Browns
While Cleveland has had a disappointing season this year, Joe Schobert has been a constant bright spot. He is second in the conference in total and solo tackles. He also has nine pass deflections, four interceptions and two forced fumbles. Schobert is one of the reliable middle linebackers in the league, especially in pass coverage. He has definitely outperformed Dont’a Hightower, who does not rank in the top 50 in the conference in tackles. Hightower is having an impressive year, but not quite Pro Bowl level and definitely robbed Schobert of a spot.

Chill on Dak Prescott

Chris McGlynn Football, Uncategorized , , ,

Everyone just relax. No seriously, take a deep breath and stop calling him the second coming of Tom Brady. The NFL world has exploded over the past month as Dak Prescott tortured NFL defenses during the preseason. His emergence in his first three preseason games was impressive, but not indicative of anything.

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Prescott is a fourth round pick from Mississippi State. (Wikimedia Commons)

To start with, it was three preseason games where he played about half of each one. None of these games count for anything. Prescott also played most of the second game against Miami’s backups on defense. Defenses aren’t sending full blitz packages, coverage schemes are still being implemented and top defensive stars likely aren’t even playing. So yes, while the performance was impressive, it has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Looking past that, Prescott was never going to touch the field in the regular season unless Tony Romo got injured. This was not a quarterback competition. Romo is in no danger of losing his starting job once he is fully healthy. One day we might see Prescott as the preferred starter under center, but it won’t be until Romo retires or leaves Dallas.

And even when we do see him play, we don’t have any guarantee that he will put up the same video game-like numbers we saw during the preseason. Odds are, he will be outplayed by his New York counterpart Eli Manning. Prescott’s sample size is tiny and that should be a red flag to anyone proclaiming him as the next great quarterback. This article I found today from CBS Sports is already calling Prescott a future Super Bowl-winning passer. He hasn’t played a snap of a regular season game yet!

And what even more people seem to forget is that this is Tony Romo we are talking about. The same guy who was an MVP candidate in 2014 and lead Dallas to the divisional round of the playoffs. You know, Romo, who has over 34,000 career passing yards and 247 career touchdown passes, both franchise records. This is the same team that Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach played for I will remind you. Tony Romo is right on the cusp of being a Hall of Famer. His numbers are better than those of Staubach and Aikman who are both in Canton. You don’t just kick your Pro Bowl quarterback to the curb because a rookie has a couple of impressive preseason games.

Tony_Romo
Romo is out several week with a broken bone in his back. (Wikimedia Commons)

This article is not just so I can hate on Dak Prescott. In fact, with the pieces that are around him, I do think Prescott has a bright future. He has shown flashes of brilliance, shows that he has most of the physical tools to play the position at a high level and he is on a team with a recipe for him to be successful. Between that stellar offensive line and fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliott, Prescott has some nice pieces to grow with and compliment him. Hopefully, by the time he takes over as the starter, (if we reach that point) the Cowboys will have found another receiver to either aid or replace Dez Bryant.

Prescott will be under center Sunday for Dallas as they take on the Giants. New York had the worst statistical defense in the league a year ago, so this might be the perfect way to east him into regular season football. But even if does have a great game against the Giants, let’s hold off on anointing him a Hall of Famer until maybe he finishes his first season in the pros.