The Cowboys may not have piled up wins in Brian Schottenheimer’s first season as head coach, but Dak Prescott’s production was impossible to ignore. Even so, the pair was left out of CBS Sports’ recent top-10 quarterback-coach duo rankings, a decision that feels hard to square with the numbers.
Dallas turned to Schottenheimer after moving on from Mike McCarthy following the 2024 season, keeping Prescott paired with a coach he already knew well. Schottenheimer didn’t just inherit the head job - he also took over play-calling, the same responsibility McCarthy handled for most of his time in Dallas.
The result was a rough 7-9-1 finish, but Prescott still delivered one of the strongest passing seasons in the league. He completed 67.3 percent of his throws for 4,552 yards, with 30 touchdown passes and only 10 interceptions. As a team, the Cowboys finished second in the NFL in passing yardage and fifth in passing touchdowns.
That production wasn’t enough to get Prescott and Schottenheimer into Garrett Podell’s top 10. Podell placed Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams at No. 1, followed by Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 2.
The No. 3 spot went to Mike Macdonald and Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks, a choice that stood out a bit more given that Seattle is a defensive-minded team rather than the usual quarterback-centered operation.
Two duos that landed ahead of Dallas and drew particular scrutiny were Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and Liam Coen at No. 10, and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni at No. 8. The argument against both is straightforward: if the ranking is about the quarterback-coach partnership itself, Prescott’s statistical season stacks up better.
Lawrence was solid for the Jaguars, but his 2025 line of 4,007 yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions didn’t match Prescott’s output.
Hurts and Sirianni may have been the most debatable inclusion. Sirianni has had success overall and won a Super Bowl after the 2022 season, but he has also been on the hot seat.
Hurts gets plenty of credit because the Eagles win a lot, yet he remains a quarterback whose passing numbers lag behind the elite. He has never reached 4,000 passing yards and threw for just 3,224 yards in 2025.
He added eight rushing touchdowns, though the source of those scores is obvious to anyone outside Philadelphia.
If the list were based strictly on wins, the Eagles and Jaguars would have a stronger case. But that logic doesn’t fully hold when the Chiefs were 6-8 with Mahomes starting in 2025. That’s why Prescott and Schottenheimer belong in the conversation, even with the disappointing record attached to their first year together.
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Cowboys Roster Cuts Are Already Raising Questions Around Young Talent
The Cowboys roster cuts have already begun sending familiar names elsewhere, and Jaydon Blue is the latest example of how quickly the league can turn over a young player. After Dallas released him, Blue landed on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad, adding another wrinkle to a division rivalry while underlining how much interest there still is around unproven talent when teams trim down to their final roster.
Blue was hardly the only former Cowboy to find a new opportunity. Sam Williams, Julius Wood, and Trevor Keegan also moved on quickly, getting claimed or signed by other NFL teams in the wake of Dallas decisions. For the Cowboys, the immediate aftermath of cutdown day is more than a paperwork exercise, since it keeps exposing which young players other clubs believe are worth betting on. [Read more 🡒]