Ranking all-time Cowboys quarterbacks: Dak Prescott climbs record book, but two legends remain ahead

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Dak Prescott now sits alone atop the Dallas Cowboys' record books in terms of all major passing statistics.

After he threw for 279 yards and four passing touchdowns in a 37-20 victory over the Washington Commanders, Prescott's overtook predecessor Tony Romo as the team's all-time passing touchdowns leader at 249, and he did so in 15 fewer games. Prescott now owns Dallas' all-time records in completion percentage (67%), passing yards (36,443), passing touchdowns (249) and passer rating (98.6). 

"I'm blessed, honored. As I've told you earlier in the week, records are meant to be broken. It's my time to break this one," Prescott said on Sunday. "Pretty cool to do it against the team that I threw my first touchdown against, 10 years ago or so. So definitely humbling,  something I don't take for granted. The great history of this organization, of the past quarterbacks before me, obviously wearing to me the greatest one. And so super, super honored, super thankful. God's great. I'm not taking it lightly, but as I told y'all, it's just the beginning. I want to double it. I plan to play for a while so I'm just getting started."   

At the podium on Sunday, Prescott wore Pro Football Hall of Famer Roger Staubach's No. 12 Cowboys jersey into and out of AT&T Stadium, and he said Staubach remains the best quarterback in franchise history. 

"Yeah, we were talking about it throughout the week. Yeah, he's just on my mind and home opener, knew that this was an opportunity to break this record and just felt right. Just felt right," Prescott said. "As I said, he's the standard. He was the first great one here, and I think he still is. And as we know, I was schooling up Q [Quinnen Williams] on the history of him to win the Heisman, to go serve for our country, and then to come back, win two Super Bowls, be the man that he is, be as great as he is off the field, do so much for the community. He's the epitome of what a Dallas Cowboys quarterback should be, and he's who I'm chasing. And so I'm thankful for the relationship that we do have and yeah, just wanted to support him." 

Given Prescott's ownership of all these franchise records, plus his stance that Staubach remains No. 1 in his personal Cowboys quarterback rankings, let's examine where he belongs.

5. Danny White

Seasons as starting QB: 1980-87

Pro Bowls: 1 (1982)

All-Pro selections: 1 (1982 second team)

NFL MVPs: 0 (Finished as No. 5 finalist in 1982)

Super Bowls won as starting QB: 0 (Won Super Bowl XII as Roger Staubach's backup)

Super Bowl MVPs: 0

Passing yards: 21,959 (fifth in team history)

Passing touchdowns: 155 (fourth in team history)

Record as starter: 62-30

Danny White had the most unique career of any quarterback in the Cowboys' top five because he spent four years as punter while simultaneously functioning as Roger Staubach's backup. It became White's time when Staubach retired, and he had eight seasons as THE quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. In those eight years, only Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana won more of his quarterback starts (67) than White. 

In the postseason, White went 5-5 while reaching the conference championship game in each of his first three playoff runs from 1980 to 1982. His best chance to break through to the Super Bowl came in the 1981 season when facing the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game. He completed 16 of his 24 passes that day for 173 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. White's second touchdown pass of the day to tight end Doug Cosbie with 10:41 left in the game gave Dallas a 27-21 lead. However, Montana countered with a six-yard touchdown toss to wide receiver Dwight Clark, now known as "The Catch," with 58 seconds left to play, putting San Francisco on top. White drove Dallas to the 49ers' 44 before being strip-sacked to lose the game. 

White put together a solid career while having to be the quarterback right after Staubach. 

4. Tony Romo

Seasons as starting QB: 2006-15

Pro Bowls: 4 (2006-07, 2009, 2014)

All-Pro selections: 1 (2014 second team)

NFL MVPs: 0 (Finished as No. 3 finalist in 2014)

Super Bowls won as starting QB: 0 

Super Bowl MVPs: 0

Passing yards: 34,183 (second in team history)

Passing touchdowns: 248 (second in team history)

Record as starter: 78-49

Tony Romo was the best Cowboys quarterback of the 21st century until Prescott succeeded him. Romo went undrafted and spent three years on the bench before replacing a washed-up Drew Bledsoe in Week 7 of the 2006 season. He went on to have an electrifying career with plenty of dazzling, highlight-reel plays. However, Dallas reached the postseason only four times in Romo's 10 seasons, winning just two games and failing to advance to the conference championship round. 

His best season came in 2014 when he finished third in NFL MVP voting after leading the NFL in completion percentage (69.9%), passing yards per attempt (8.5) and passer rating (113.2). Romo's Cowboys had the misfortune of running into 2014 NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who led the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio (38-5) and net yards gained per pass attempt (7.7), and his Green Bay Packers in the divisional round, where they lost 26-21 in a classic winter day showdown at Lambeau Field. 

3. Dak Prescott

Seasons as starting QB: 2016-present

Pro Bowls: 4 (2016, 2018, 2023, 2025)

All-Pro selections: 1 (2023 second team)

NFL MVPs: 0 (Finished as No. 6 finalist in 2016 and runner up in 2023)

Super Bowls won as starting QB: 0 

Super Bowl MVPs: 0

Passing yards: 36,443 (first in team history)

Passing touchdowns: 249 (first in team history)

Record as starter: 84-56-1

Prescott came as a fourth-round pick after Dallas missed out on reported desired quarterback targets like Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook. That ended in the Cowboys' favor after Romo and backup Kellen Moore both suffered injuries in the 2016 preseason, which allowed Prescott to start in Week 1 of his rookie year. He played so well the Cowboys went 13-3 to earn the NFC's top seed, and he won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after throwing for 3,667 yards, 23 touchdowns and just four interceptions. That year ended once again in the NFC divisional round after Rodgers outdueled Dallas once again in a 34-31 Cowboys loss. 

Prescott hit another level in 2021. He and the Cowboys ripped off three consecutive 12-win seasons, the first time since the 1990's dynasty years. Prescott just missed out on 2023 NFL MVP honors after leading the league in completions (410), touchdown passes (36) and QBR (73.4). Unfortunately for Dallas, the same playoff struggles have been present in both Romo's and Prescott's careers. They are the only two quarterbacks in NFL history with a .600-plus winning percentage in the regular season and zero conference championship game starts, with a minimum of 100 quarterback starts. 

Prescott owns Dallas' all-time records in completion percentage (67%), passing yards (36,443), passing touchdowns (249) and passer rating (98.6) after beating Romo's passing touchdowns mark in 15 fewer games. He plans to "double" that record with 2026 being his age-33 season. 

2. Troy Aikman

Seasons as starting QB: 1989-2000

Pro Bowls: 6 (1991-96)

All-Pro selections: 0

NFL MVPs: 0 (Finished as No. 5 finalist in 1993)

Super Bowls won as starting QB: 3 

Super Bowl MVPs: 1 (Super Bowl XXVII MVP)

Passing yards: 32,942 (third in team history)

Passing touchdowns: 165 (third in team history)

Record as starter: 94-71

Dallas was in the dumps when they selected Troy Aikman first overall in the 1989 NFL Draft, as they went 1-15 in his first season, with Aikman losing all 11 of his starts. After the Cowboys selected running back Emmitt Smith, who went on to become the NFL's all-time rushing leader, 17th overall, and paired him with Aikman and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, things began to turn around. 

The Cowboys went 7-9 in 1990 before ripping off five straight 11-win seasons. Dallas became the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in four years. Dallas' offense in the 90's was obviously built around Smith's legs, but Aikman carried his weight in most of the playoff runs, especially the 1992 season -- the Cowboys' first Super Bowl win of the decade. He threw for 795 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions in three postseason games that season. In a 52-17 Super Bowl XXVII romp over the Buffalo Bills, Aikman exploded for 273 yards, four passing touchdowns and no interceptions to win the game's MVP honors. 

Aikman's playoff production in subsequent seasons aligned much more with his high-level game-manager role in the regular season than with the "put the team on my back" play in 1992. When he retired, he held the Cowboys' passing yards and passing touchdowns records before they were surpassed by Romo and Prescott. 

1. Roger Staubach

Seasons as starting QB: 1971-79

Pro Bowls: 6 (1971, 1975-79)

All-Pro selections: 0

NFL MVPs: 0 (Finished as runner-up in 1971 and No. 4 finalist in both 1978 and 1979)

Super Bowls won as starting QB: 2 

Super Bowl MVPs: 1 (Super Bowl VI MVP)

Passing yards: 22,700 (fourth in team history)

Passing touchdowns: 153 (fifth in team history)

Record as starter: 85-29

Roger Staubach, aka "Captain Comeback," kick-started the Cowboys' Super Bowl legacy under coach Tom Landry. Staubach shredded the Miami Dolphins by completing 12 of his 19 passes for 119 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 24-3 beatdown in the big game. He also had to carry his team's offense for much of his career until Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett showed up to play with him over the quarterback's last three seasons, 1977-79. Dallas reached four Super Bowls and won two of them with Staubach at the steering wheel of the Cowboys' offense. He also threw the first "Hail Mary" touchdown pass, a 50-yard bomb on fourth-and-16 to Hall of Fame wide receiver Drew Pearson in the final minute to beat the Minnesota Vikings 17-14 in the NFC divisional round. 

From 1971 to 1979, no quarterback in the NFL won more starts, threw for more yards, threw for more touchdowns or registered a better passer rating than Staubach. He was the most productive quarterback in the NFL during his era, something you can't say about any other Dallas quarterback on this list.