The ripple effect: a spreading, pervasive, and usually unintentional effect or influence.

For Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott, a ripple caused by a matter of minutes may have altered his entire NFL Career.

We’ll get to that. But first, some background.

The Denver Broncos liked Dak Prescott; he was a player that was firmly on their radar heading into the 2016 NFL Draft. The Cowboys really liked Paxton Lynch. In fact, the Cowboys liked Paxton Lynch so much that owner Jerry Jones admitted the day after the draft that he was “still mad” he didn’t “over pay” to get back in the first round and select the quarterback that the Broncos eventually selected.

Oh, and for some more interesting parallels between the two quarterbacks, they were roommates at the combine.

Okay, back to the story.

Last offseason, the Broncos were, of course, in the market for a quarterback. They had just lost Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler, and they were prepared to turn to the draft process to bring in a third quarterback with Mark Sanchez and Trevor Siemian already in the fold.

As they did with Lynch, Jeff Driskel of Louisiana Tech and Connor Cook of Michigan State, the Broncos set up a visit with Prescott, the mobile QB out of Mississippi State.

“It didn’t go as well as I’d say was planned,” Prescott admitted to a contingent of Cowboys media on Wednesday. “Just didn’t go well.”

You see, as is usually protocol when sitting down with a quarterback, the Broncos had set up a dinner with Prescott to get to know him a bit better, a chance to learn even more about the talented quarterback.

Just one problem: Dak didn’t make it.

“I think I missed a flight,” Prescott explained, knowing that he definitely missed a flight.

“I was supposed to fly out earlier in the day,” he divulged after the media dug for more. “I was supposed to fly out of Orlando, one of my first times flying out of there where I was training. I guess it’s the No. 1 place to fly out of. I didn’t make it to the gate, the doors shut and  I had to wait. I got there later that night but missed the initial dinner.”

In the mind of the 2016 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, he blew his chance with the then-defending Super Bowl Champs.

“The quarterback missing the flight doesn’t look too well,” he said with a slightly embarrassed smirk. “When I got on that flight I knew that was probably over with.”

Maybe if he made the flight, the Broncos would have been more confident in him and waited longer to take their QB. Maybe it didn’t change a thing.

In the end, Prescott landed in a place with a far more proven signal-caller in Tony Romo and still ended up starting right away with a fantastic offensive line and one of the best running backs in the league to help him out.

“I’m in a good spot,” he said with a different smirk. “Everything happens for a reason.”