The Dallas Cowboys made Dak Prescott the NFL’s highest-paid player with a four-year, $240 million deal signed ahead of last season. With an average annual salary of $60 million, the contract sets a historic financial benchmark. It also puts enormous pressure on Prescott to deliver results in 2025 and beyond.
Prescott, however, hasn’t delivered in the playoffs during his eight-year career in Dallas. As such, questions are mounting. Former NFL MVP Cam Newton weighed in, suggesting that next season could be Prescott’s last chance to prove his true worth in Dallas. If Prescott doesn’t deliver, Newton believes we may see a new starting QB in Dallas in 2026.
Cam Newton Predicts Dak Prescott Could Be Replaced By Arch Manning in 2026
Recall that after a five-year career at Mississippi State, Prescott wasn’t a highly touted draft pick, going in the fourth round to the Cowboys in 2016. While seen as a backup option for Dallas, a vertebral compression fracture to starter Tony Romo gave Prescott the starting job.
Immediately, he exploded to lead the Cowboys to a 13-3 record, while winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in the process. He also set the NFL record for passer rating (104.9) and wins (tied at 13) for a rookie.
Since then, Prescott has become a very reliable weapon for Dallas, earning three Pro Bowl and one All-Pro selection, including an MVP-caliber year in 2023. However, the question mark for him and the Cowboys has always been the postseason.
Through five playoff appearances, Prescott has managed only two wins and five losses, with underwhelming individual performances despite having solid offensive talent around him. Because of that, Newton believes the 31-year-old quarterback has undelivered.
“Dak has had well enough options,” Newton said on his show, “4th&1 With Cam Newton.”
“When you go back and look at the dynasty, when they went on that ’90s run, Troy Aikman had Emmitt Smith,” Newton added. “Dak had a successful running game with [Tony] Pollard as well as Ezekiel Elliott. This was eatin-a-bowl-of-cereal Zeke … He also had Michael Irvin! As we talk about the amenities that were on Dak Prescott’s resort, by way of Dallas … my boy done had some options.”
While the Cowboys’ running game is comparatively weaker in 2025, the team traded for George Pickens and now has one of the best receiving duos with CeeDee Lamb already on the roster.
Dallas also fields the likes of Trevon Diggs and Micah Parsons on the defensive side, and Newton feels this is a Super Bowl-calibre unit. If Prescott still fails to go deep in the playoffs, the former QB believes Jerry Jones may hand the reins to Arch Manning in 2026.
“This door is closing,” Newton said. “Because if you don’t succeed this year. And I mean this is not even championship or bust. Dak Prescott, if you do not perform this year, that door is going to close. And in comes … drumroll please … Arch Manning. You go out with an injury this year … Jerry is going to any and everything to spend everything for Arch Manning.”
Note that Manning, the top-ranked recruit in the 2023 class and nephew of NFL greats Eli and Peyton Manning, is already generating major buzz as a top quarterback prospect for the 2026 NFL Draft. Though he has just two college starts under his belt, the hype surrounding his potential continues to grow.
Whether or not Dallas targets Manning, the pressure is squarely on Prescott to deliver in 2025. With a $60 million annual salary and a growing chorus of critics questioning his playoff record, next season could define his future with the Cowboys.