Boomer Esiason kicked around a trade idea Sunday that would send Justin Herbert to the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott to the Chargers, then quickly made clear it was fantasy, not a forecast. He called it a dream scenario for people who cover the NFL, but said he did not think it would help and did not think Prescott was going anywhere.
The pitch came as the Dallas Cowboys were headed into a Monday night game in Philadelphia, which gave the conversation an immediate edge for anyone following the NFL right now. Esiason said he could imagine Herbert in a Cowboys uniform and framed the swap as something that would be great for the league, even while treating it like a thought experiment rather than a real proposal.
The reason the idea landed at all is simple: it puts two starting quarterbacks with very different trajectories in the same sentence. Herbert is 28, a two-time Pro Bowler and the 2020 Rookie of the Year after going No. 6 overall out of Oregon. He also arrived with a reputation for production, topping 5,000 yards in his second season, even though that same year also brought 15 interceptions.
This season has not matched that early promise. Herbert was heading up an 0-6 team and had thrown a league-high eight interceptions against five touchdowns, a profile that makes any big-picture quarterback debate easier to ignite. Prescott, 33, is older, and the contrast between the two is part of what gave Esiason’s idea its hook.
But the hook stops where the contracts begin. Esiason said both quarterbacks probably have no-move clauses or no-trade clauses, which is the first obstacle to any swap, and the biggest one if the discussion ever moved beyond radio chatter. A no-trade clause means a player has to approve a deal; without that approval, the teams cannot simply exchange the quarterbacks because the idea sounds good on paper.
That is why Esiason’s own follow-up mattered more than the fantasy itself. He said maybe both players could grow tired of where they are by the end of the season, but he also said he did not think Prescott was leaving. For now, the proposal remains what he said it was: a dream scenario for people covering the NFL, not a move either Dallas or Los Angeles appears ready to make.
