Dak Prescott & QB NFL Draft Talk: Cowboys Conspiracy Theories - Shut Down

Dak Prescott has come under fire several times this past season for his inconsistent play, but are the Cowboys playing mind games in a bid to push the quarterback to new heights?

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott endured a tough 2022 season. A broken thumb, coupled with an interception spike that ultimately cost his team a chance to advance in the playoffs, he often drew criticism from many corners.

As we enter the offseason and with the NFL Draft now in sight, there are theories that something rather interesting could be bubbling away inside The Star. 

Over the last couple of weeks, rumors and chit-chat and actual reporting (plus owner Jerry Jones' own remarks) has seen the Cowboys seemingly interested in drafting a quarterback. CowboysSI.com has already put forth the thought from a source that Dallas is "intrigued" by Ohio State's C.J. Stroud. 

Now, another name has popped up, Hendon Hooker from Tennessee. 

The Cowboys have reportedly already met extensively with the quarterback, according to The Draft Network. So that's two names that Dallas is "looking" at. Oh, and TCU's Max Duggan, too.

So...

Is there an underlying, subtle message here from Dallas? After Prescott's sour end to the year, is the organization attempting to light a fire under Dak to push him to new heights?

We asked our own Mike Fisher, a Cowboys beat writer who broke the story on the club being "intrigued'' in Stroud, for his thoughts on the theory.

"No, I don't see any conspiracy here,'' Fisher said. "The Joneses' faith in Dak seems pretty solid to me. And the QB research is simply them doing what Jerry promised they would do. 

"The Stroud interest isn't a conspiracy, but it's a sourced news story - no matter what the 'tinfoil-hat'' people think. Same with the Hooker story and the Duggan story. We're simply reporting the news ... and the Cowboys are simply doing their homework.''

Nevertheless, could Dak be inspired by the movement? We saw the results of such a thing in Green Bay when the Packers took Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft to "eventually take over" from Aaron Rodgers.

That ended well as Rodgers was named the NFL MVP that season.

Along with Fisher, we get no sense that this is about pushing Prescott out. But it could end up "pushing him'' to greater heights.

There is no "right answer'' as to how to do this. Fisher reminds us that in 1989, the Cowboys drafted both first-round QB Troy Aikman and first-round (supplemental) QB Steve Walsh - and that Aikman did not like the arrangement.

But did the arrangement eventually work? Given that Jimmy Johnson a year later traded Walsh to the Saints for their first, second and third-round draft picks - and that those picks became Russell Maryland and Erik Williams - oh, and that Aikman ended up winning three Super Bowls?

That ended up being a "right answer'' for Aikman and those Cowboys. Searching for another quality QB can eventually be a "right answer'' for Prescott and these Cowboys, too.

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