Dak Prescott enters the 2020 season with perhaps the highest expectations of his young career with the Dallas Cowboys.

Prescott took a big step forward last season as a passer. Thanks to the coaching of former quarterback coach Jon Kitna, the creative genius in Kellen Moore, and simply more confidence, Prescott improved a ton in 2019.

The Cowboys' signal-caller saw his game go to another level with the addition of Amari Cooper in the middle of the 2018 season. Prescott and the Cowboys finished the regular season hot and even knocked off Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks in the Wildcard Round of the 2018 NFC Playoffs.

Some of that momentum carried over to the 2019 season. Prescott finished second in the league in passing, tossed 30 touchdowns, and was the engineer of one of the most explosive offenses in all of football. Despite the mediocre 8-8 record, Prescott established himself as one of the NFL's top young quarterbacks — and people are beginning to take notice.

Dak is receiving some MVP love.

As Prescott enters his first season under a regime that does not consist of Jason Garrett at the helm, many are believing the Cowboys' signal-caller has what it takes to be in MVP consideration. Mike McCarthy's history with the quarterback position and Kellen Moore's offensive mind bodes well for Prescott's fifth professional season.

Patrick Mahomes is obviously thought to be the favorite due to his elite talent, but we have seen big statistical seasons from quarterbacks result in a Most Valuable Player trophy at season's end. The Athleticrecently ran a story with predictions regarding Super Bowl champion, playoff teams, and who the MVP will be.

Mahomes, to no surprise, received the most MVP voted by The Athletic panel. 34 of the 46 writers polled picked the Chiefs star quarterback to take home the honors for the second time in his already impressive career.

Second on the list is none other than Dak Prescott. Prescott received six of the remaining 12 votes. That is three more than the next on the list (Russell Wilson). The remaining two to receive votes were Lamar Jackson (two) and Drew Brees (one). As you can see, the MVP trophy is a very quarterback-driven honor.

Elsewhere in the piece on The Athletic, the Dallas Cowboys are picked to take home the NFC East crown for the third time in Prescott's five-year career. Of the 46 voters, a whopping 41 chose the Cowboys to win the division. The other five votes went to the Philadelphia Eagles. It is worth noting that we have not seen a repeat division winner since the early 2000s.

The expectations are high for the Cowboys, who garnered 89.1% of the votes after an 8-8 finish last year. There’s reason for that optimism: this offseason, they extended Amari Cooper, added some depth on defense and nailed some draft picks, including nabbing CeeDee Lamb and CB Trevon Diggs with their first two picks. That, and they’ve finally moved on from Jason Garrett after nine full seasons. And while the Eagles were the ones who made the postseason last year, our staff isn’t sold on them outlasting Dallas in the East, with only 10.9% voting for Philly.

The Cowboys do appear to be the favorite within the media heading into the season. Some of that is because of the excitement surrounding the Cowboys offense, while some of that is likely due to the Eagles already being banged up before a snap has even been made.

Big things are expected out of Dak Prescott in 2019. He is used to being under the spotlight and this fall will be no different. It will be exciting to see what he can accomplish with the best supporting cast to this point in his career.

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