Josh Butler has spent two seasons watching Dak Prescott up close, from film sessions to practice reps to the hardest moments a Cowboys locker room has endured. Now the cornerback is done staying quiet about how his quarterback gets characterized from the outside.
Butler joined the Cowboys in July 2023 after starring for the Michigan Panthers in the USFL that spring. He has been a Dallas native who grew up rooting for the Cowboys since his time at West Mesquite High School.
Over the weekend, Butler posted a TikTok video recently after a debate about Prescott’s standing among NFL signal-callers pushed him past his limit.
“Somebody tried to argue with me and say Dak Prescott not top 5,” Butler said in the clip. “You’re not gonna argue with me because y’all don’t see what I see.”
What Butler has seen goes far beyond the stat sheet, though Prescott’s 2025-26 numbers make a compelling case on their own. The Cowboys quarterback completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 4,552 yards with 30 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions across all 17 games. He led the NFL in passing attempts, completions and passing yards while ranking third in passing yards, fourth in passing touchdowns and fifth in QBR.
Despite Prescott’s elite production, the Cowboys finished 7-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Dallas ranked seventh in the league at 27.7 points per game on offense, while their defense ranked 30th in yards allowed under coordinator Matt Eberflus.
Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith also came to Dak Prescott’s defense
The criticism came anyway. Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith felt compelled to defend Prescott on 105.3 The Fan in early April, calling out those who blamed the quarterback for the team’s failures.
“Last year, the guy was a top-five quarterback,” Smith said. “Nobody wants to talk about that. But everybody wants to talk about, ‘Well, he’s a top-five quarterback, but he hasn’t made the playoffs.’ All that isn’t on him. When you have a sorry [expletive] defense that we had last year, let’s be honest with each other.”
Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski gave Prescott an A in his final report card and ranked him fifth overall at the position, writing that the Cowboys QB had played the best of any quarterback on a team with a losing record and that even a close second didn’t exist.
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