Following an impressive rookie campaign that saw him take the league by storm, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott took a bit of a step back in his performance on the field this past season.

Prescott experienced a notable decline in all areas of his game that included a steep increase in interceptions thrown from four to 13 in his second campaign. This has raised questions of whether he can truly be the franchise quarterback that can lead the team to consistent success.

During a recent interview with Newy Scruggs of DFW's NBC 5, former Philadephia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski stated that he believes that Prescott has the talent to be a top-tier quarterback but needs to learn from his mistakes and adjust from them next season.

“The quarterback position is a dependent position,” Jaworski said, via Newy Scruggs of DFW’s NBC5. “You depend on other people to help do your job. It’s not always about the quarterback. He’s going to get too much credit or too much blame. As I look at the Cowboys last year, they were inadequate in a lot of phases offensively. The offensive line, despite all the talent, did not play as well as they’re capable of playing. They didn’t get the explosive plays out of their receiving corps that they had historically or at least two years ago with Dak. You could say Ezekiel [Elliott] was out. That hurt the team. They didn’t load the box as much. They played the safeties off the line. They played more two-deep. They played more quarters. I can give you all the excuses.

At the end of the day, players have to make plays. I think Dak started to lose some confidence. When Dak loses his confidence, like all quarterbacks, you lose a little bit. You’re not willing to pull that trigger. Also year two, I’ve always felt — I’ve been around this game since 1973 — year two defenses now have studied you year one. They know everything that you do. They’ve got 30 guys in the corner watching the tape, and they’re going to make you play your weakness, and they forced Dak to do some things he was not comfortable doing. So now we’re going to see year three how he rebounds from what happened year two. It’s that chess game. You have to have counter moves all the time. He did not play as well as he can play, but I know the guy has God-given talent to be a terrific quarterback.”

There were many factors that went into Prescott struggling to play with consistency in 2017 that Jaworski did a strong job of listing. The sophomore slump is something that many players have gone through as opposing teams now have a tape of how to force players into doing things that they are not so comfortable in performing on the field. That said, this offseason is a chance for Prescott to key in and improve on those areas of weakness.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys will have the services of star running back Ezekiel Elliott, who is the main factor in the offensive game plan that will allow for there to be more balance in the offseason. Elliott has quickly proven in his brief NFL career that he is one of the league's top players at his position. Prescott could largely benefit from his Pro Bowl running back's presence in a similar way that he did in the 2016 season.

Ultimately, this offseason will be key in helping the 24-year-old fine-tune his game to help himself and the Cowboys bounce back in 2018.