Is Dak Prescott the 12th best quarterback in the league in 2026? According to NFL.com analyst Chad Reuter, he is. In an intriguing team-building exercise, Reuter took a stab at dissecting the current crop of NFL players based on who would help their team win a championship this season. It’s a mix of talent ranking and fantasy football, where all 32 teams pick in the same order as this past April’s draft, in an attempt to build the best core of a roster, seven players deep.
The first 12 picks were all quarterbacks, and the Dallas Cowboys’ 12th-year QB was the last among the first group to come off the board, landing right back where he started and has spent his entire career.
Pick 12 | Dallas CowboysDak Prescott, QB – The Cowboys stick with their decade-long starter in Prescott, who bounced back from injury to throw for 4,552 yards and 30 scores last season.
Current Bills QB Josh Allen went No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, who used the real No. 1 selection to pick Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza in the spring. Here’s a look at the top 12 picks in order.
- Raiders – QB Josh Allen
- Jets – QB Patrick Mahomes
- Cardinals – QB Matthew Stafford
- Titans – QB Joe Burrow
- Giants – QB Lamar Jackson
- Browns – QB Drake Maye
- Commanders – QB Justin Herbert
- Saints – QB Jordan Love
- Chiefs – QB Jared Goff
- Bengals – QB Trevor Lawrence
- Dolphins – QB Jayden Daniels
- Cowboys – QB Dak Prescott
Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but having Prescott behind any of the players ranked seventh or lower is certainly debatable, especially if the edict is not about grabbing a player who is great for the next five years but rather winning this particular season.
The first non-QB came off the board at No. 13, with edge rusher Myles Garrett going to the Atlanta Falcons.
No other Cowboys player made it into Round 1 of the exercise.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: All-NFL Win-Now Draft: Cowboys QB Dak Prescott returns to Dallas
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