How Fair Are ESPN's 'Top 5' Criticisms of The Cowboys? Part 1: Dak Prescott

FRISCO - The ESPN series by the respected Bill Barnwell is billed as being about "the first five things (NFL teams) should be thinking about as they prepare for the new league year, which begins on March 18.''

Why, though, does the section covering the Dallas Cowboys seem not so much about "five things to think about'' but rather about "five areas in which Dallas sucks''?

Maybe it's due to the fact that the 8-8 record from 2019 colors every single thing about the Cowboys in tones of disappointment. But we're not sure that's fair ... and so let's tackle Barnwell's analysis of the Cowboys with our analysis of Bill's analysis ... all this week, a five-part series on Bill's five parts, which are about:

1) Lock Up Dak, 2) Transition-Tag Amari, 3) Build Around Tank, 4) Sign a Star DB and 5) Find a Tight End. Today, Part 1: Dak ...

Barnwell Job 1. Lock Up Dak Prescott. No argument here, though Barnwell's angle isn't about this Cowboys QB - it's about other Cowboys QBs.

He writes: "Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Ryan Leaf, Clint Stoerner, Chad Hutchinson, Quincy Carter, Vinny Testaverde, Drew Henson and Drew Bledsoe. Those are the quarterbacks the Cowboys started between the end of Troy Aikman's run and the beginning of Tony Romo's, and they stumbled onto Romo as an undrafted free agent. When Dallas was ready to replace Romo, owner Jerry Jones had to be talked out of drafting Johnny Manziel and only ended up with Prescott after the Broncos and Raiders beat him to Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook, respectively.

"The overwhelming evidence suggests the Cowboys have had virtually no idea of what makes a good quarterback in the draft for two decades now.(If they were really confident Romo was going to turn into a starter, they would have used an actual draft pick on the Eastern Illinois product.) ...''

FISH'S TAKE: "Locking up Dak'' is obviously the Cowboys' plan - though it's also obviously easier said than done, as otherwise this issue would've been settled by the two sides - as it very nearly was - back in September.

Let's bullet-point our problems with Barnwell's hot takes:

*Bill is so intent on destroying Dallas and its search for the elusive star QB that he actually lists Quincy Carter ... twice.

*There was nothing especially wrong with Testaverde or Bledsoe as NFL starters. Indeed, if you think a coach who likes those guys is a dope, that means you think Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells are dopes.

*Trying to replace Troy Aikman with another Troy Aikman is .... hard.

*It's a strange criticism to say the Cowboys don't know "how to do QBs'' while at the same time actually discrediting them for having "done'' Tony Romo and Dak Prescott. Their performances are absolutely about luck, as is the case with any player. Their performances are also about work, about scouting and about teaching.

Seriously ... "If they were really confident Romo was going to turn into a starter, they would have used an actual draft pick on the Eastern Illinois product''? That's a warped way of looking at talent evaluation and acquisition, for if that's the measure, then the Patriots (and every other team) were morons for not drafting Tom Brady until the sixth round.

*Aikman retired in 2001. Romo got here in 2003. That's a two-year gap. Romo departed after the 2016 season, which was Dak's first. So there was no gap at all. So this "futile search'' for a QB in Dallas actually lasted ... one year. Or, if one chooses to not count the time when Romo was a backup, five years.

We'd have to do a league-wide study, but our initial gut feeling is that a franchise going five years without a Hall-of-Fame type at QB is not all that odd.

*The blanket "Cowboys don't know what they're doing'' judgment would be fine if Jerry Jones were the sole decision-maker regarding QBs. But space almost precludes us from listing all the executives, coaches and scouts who have been involved since Aikman's departure. To discredit the football minds of everyone from Chan Gailey to Larry Lacewell to Bill Parcells to Todd Haley to Chris Palmer to Sean Payton to David Lee to Tom Ciskowski to Stephen Jones to Wade Phillips to Wade Wilson to Bill Callahan to Scott Linehan to Kellen Moore to Jason Garrett to Will McClay is ... insultingly silly.

It's mathematically impossible for all of them, and many more, to be the exactly the same level of incompetent in this specific area, as Barnwell essentially alleges.

*And finally, Barnwell is mixing fact and fiction into a distasteful gumbo when he botches the Lynch/Cook/Manziel stories.

In the 2016 NFL Draft (the one in which Dallas eventually found Dak in Round 4), Jones did indeed orchestrate an effort to select Lynch. But the fact is, the Cowboys offered Seattle their second- and fourth-round picks for a late-round first. And when Seattle demanded a third, the Cowboys said no, and the Lynch pick was traded to Denver. So Dallas should get credit for not overpaying on Lynch.

Dallas did like Cook. But Oakland liked him more, and jumped ahead of Dallas by trading picks in the fourth (No. 114) and fifth (No. 154) rounds for the fourth-rounder that got them Cook. If you believe the NFL Draft is a crapshoot, nobody should be blamed for "liking Connor Cook'' if what we're really saying is, they "liked him so much they thought about drafting him on Day 3.''

And finally, the Johnny Manziel thing, as we've explained often, is a Draft Day myth. Jerry had a fondness for Manziel. But virtually no one else in the organization did. The Cowboys' first pick in that draft was all about either Ryan Shazier or Zack Martin. There were two cards at the Cowboys' table in New York. Those two players' names were on those two cards. When Shazier went to the Steelers, Dallas quickly and confidently turned in the Martin card.

There was no "card'' with Manziel's name on it. ... There is only the myth - in fairness to Barnwell, a myth perpetuated by Jerry himself, who enjoys aligning himself with Bunyanesque tales.

In summary, Barnwell's view on Dak Prescott is clear, and in agreement Cowboys management. But how Bill arrived at his "Cowboys QB' History' destination makes for a foggy and muddled path.

COMING TUESDAY, Part 2 of 'Top 5' Criticisms of The Cowboys? "Transition Tag Amari Cooper.'