The San Francisco 49ers face off this Sunday against a Dallas Cowboys team that could very well be making a big transition. The offensive line remains a huge strength, but could we be seeing the permanent switch from Tony Romo to rookie Dak Prescott?
Through three games, Prescott has completed 66 of 99 passes for 767 yards and a touchdown, while rushing seven times for 54 yards and two touchdowns. His yards per attempt has gone up each game, and he is currently tied for 11th in the NFL in that category. He is 12th in passer rating, and Football Outsiders ranks him No. 6 in DYAR and No. 5 in DVOA. Suffice to say, he’s doing solid work through three games.
During the pre-draft process, Prescott said at the NFL Combine that he had met with the 49ers. On Wednesday, Prescott spoke to 49ers media, and he said he might have met with a coach at the Combine, but did not have a formal meeting with the full staff. He said the 49ers one of the teams he spoke to least before the draft. When asked if he thought it was unusual for the 49ers to not express more interesting in light of their switch to Chip Kelly’s offense, Prescott kept his answer simple:
No, I mean I just figured they had their quarterback position set. That they liked what they had. I didn’t really give any teams much thought why they should get me or why they should be looking at me. I left that for those people to figure out. I just worked on myself and worried about the things that I could control.
Chip Kelly spoke to the media on Wednesday, and he said he had not met with Prescott prior to the draft. He did say the team had scouted Prescott, but Kelly included him with all the other quarterbacks in the draft:
“We looked at him just like all quarterbacks in the draft and we were really impressed with him and thought that he was someone that could really play in this league. Where it fell in terms of what we were taking, he was kind of slotted around where he got taken. That’s kind of where we thought he was going to go. But, I’ve been very impressed with him. I think not only his athletic ability, but his poise and kind of sense of calm that he has about him in terms of playing the game. It doesn’t seem like it’s happening too fast for him and he’s done a great job in the first three games.”
The fact that the 49ers did not speak to him all that much does not necessarily mean he was low on their radar. For quarterbacks, it might be a stronger indicator of that, but there have been multiple instances in the past where a draft pick either barely talked to the 49ers, or did not speak to them at all before getting the call from Santa Clara.
None of that matters at this point. The 49ers will face a rookie quarterback who is off to a strong start. We saw the 49ers hold off on some of the pressure we have come to expect, but against a rookie quarterback, I have to think Jim O’Neil will try and catch the rookie off guard with some exotic looks.