Dak Prescott has been the Cowboys’ starting quarterback since 2016. Since then, he has won 76 of his 122 starts and helped guide the team to five playoff berths. However, Dallas is only 2-5 during those postseason trips and has yet to advance past the divisional round.

Prescott is now on the wrong side of 30 and is running out of time to prove he can guide Dallas to its first Super Bowl since he was a toddler. He may not stick around for the full four-year, $240 million extension that he signed right before the 2024 season began.

While the hamstring injury has likely ended Prescott’s 2024 campaign, he wasn’t playing like one of the league’s top quarterbacks before he went down. After completing a career-high 69.5 percent of his throws for 4,516 yards, 36 touchdowns and only nine interceptions last year, he was down to a completion rate of 64.7 percent for 1,978 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions this year.

Prescott turns 32 in July and will be coming off an injury that could hinder his mobility. Rather than bank on his return to form in 2025, the Cowboys should be mulling their options and aim to find an heir who can shepherd this organization into a new era.

With passers like Miami’s Cameron Ward, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Georgia’s Carson Beck all draft-eligible in 2025, the Cowboys could use their first-round pick on one of them as their future face of the franchise. Even if that player rides the pine behind Prescott for several years—a strategy the Green Bay Packers have used with both Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers—the team would be well-positioned for the future by taking this path.