FRISCO, Texas — Dak Prescott is listed at plus-1400 to win NFL MVP at FanDuel Sportsbook three days before the Dallas Cowboys open the 2026 season. Prescott is sixth among the nine players on the list.
Josh Allen is the favorite at plus-550. Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Herbert are tied at plus-900, and Matthew Stafford is at plus-1300. Behind Prescott, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes, and Caleb Williams are tied at plus-1500. Stafford is the only NFC quarterback on the list ahead of Prescott.
On Sept. 1, FanDuel had Prescott at plus-1300, the same day NFL.com’s staff MVP ballot gave him two of 18 votes. Burrow and Herbert were both at plus-1000 that day. Jackson was at plus-1100.
Dak Prescott’s 2025 Season And MVP History
Prescott started all 17 games in 2025 and threw for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Only Stafford and Jared Goff threw for more. His 404 completions led the league, and the 600 attempts were a career high. He also ran for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Prescott finished third in voting for AP Comeback Player of the Year after a hamstring injury ended his 2024 season with nine games left. Christian McCaffrey won the award. Prescott was also named to his fourth Pro Bowl. Dallas went 7-9-1 and gave up a league-high 511 points.
Stafford won MVP last season. Drake Maye, Allen, McCaffrey, and Lawrence rounded out the top five in voting.
In 2023, Prescott led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes and finished second in MVP voting. Jackson won the award that season with 49 of 50 first-place votes. No Cowboys player has been named MVP since Emmitt Smith in 1993.
Dak Prescott’s Contract And Dallas Cowboys’ Opener At New York Giants
Prescott, who turned 33 in July, makes his 11th straight season-opening start for Dallas on Sunday. He agreed to a four-year, $240 million extension on Sept. 8, 2024, the morning the Cowboys opened that season at Cleveland. The deal came with $231 million guaranteed and an $80 million signing bonus. Dallas has gone back into it twice to create cap space. On March 4, the Cowboys converted $38.2 million of his salary and cleared $30.56 million. Executive vice president Stephen Jones said Sept. 1 on DLLS Sports that what Prescott asked for this offseason was a rebuilt defense, not a new contract.
“We hadn’t thought a lot about that,” Jones said. “I think Dak wanted to be a, if you’re going to listen to Dak, what he wanted was us to improve this defense and improve the guys on the defensive side of the ball, keep a guy like Quinnen Williams, guys like that. So certainly hadn’t been on our radar right now, but we always keep things like that. Obviously, Dak, the heart and soul of this team. He’s the Pied Piper. He’s the leader. He’s the ultimate leader on this team.”
“The great thing he loves is the leadership that we’ve acquired on the defensive side of the ball because you do need others to help lead,” Jones continued. “And you can’t, when you got 53 guys and a 17-man practice squad, it’s a lot of men. And you need more than one leader. And certainly he feels like we’ve made some huge jumps on the defensive side of the ball to not only have really good football players, but to have leaders as well.”
Dallas acquired Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets in November 2025. The Cowboys gave him a three-year, $105.9 million extension during training camp.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer is in his second season, and so is offensive coordinator Klayton Adams. George Pickens is playing on a $27.3 million franchise tag after catching 93 passes for 1,429 yards and 9 touchdowns in his first season with Dallas. CeeDee Lamb caught 75 passes for 1,077 yards and 3 touchdowns in 14 games. The Cowboys scored 471 points in 2025, seventh in the NFL.
Dallas opens Sunday against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Cowboys have won 11 of their 12 previous season openers against New York, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. The teams split last season, and Dallas won the Week 2 meeting 40-37 in overtime at AT&T Stadium.
Jaxson Dart starts at quarterback for first-year Giants coach John Harbaugh, who was hired in January. As a rookie, Dart threw for 2,272 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions in 14 games. He also ran 86 times for 487 yards and 9 touchdowns. On Wednesday, NFL.com’s Nick Shook ranked Prescott fifth and Dart 23rd in his Week 1 QB Index. Kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
