OXNARD, California — Dak Prescott’s camp practices conclude in a different way this year. The franchise quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys pushed a stroller off the practice field on Saturday afternoon while his girlfriend, Sarah Jane Ramos, held their 5-month-old daughter, MJ.
“I look forward to it,” Prescott said. “Obviously, I talk about being present and how present I am in anything I do. When I’m on the field and I’m locked in, that’s where all my focus and energy goes. But the moment that whistle blows, that horn goes off and I get to see my family, MJ and SJ; it’s not a moment that I take for granted. I’m super blessed.
“Going from being so locked in to forgetting about football so fast is something that I’ve never done. That is the balance that I need. … Nine years into this thing, getting to do what I love, but just being able to add that component to it makes it all worth it. And I feel younger than I ever have, to be honest.”
Dak after practice pic.twitter.com/pogZff35so
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 3, 2024
Most would presume that Prescott’s family life has also assisted in diverting his attention from the financial side of football as he approaches the last year of his contract. That has never been a problem, he claims. He leaves it to his agents to handle that aspect of the game. He is still optimistic that a solution can be found to allow him to stay in Dallas after his eighth NFL season. He is content to play somewhere else the following season if it doesn’t.
Prescott’s current contract pays $40 million a season on average. Only Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a higher average in the NFL at the time the contract was signed in March 2021. Since then, thirteen players have made more money annually than that average, with quarterbacks Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, and Jordan Love sharing the highest salary at $55 million annually.
Prescott, in the opinion of former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, will be the first to earn $60 million a year. The current color analyst for “Monday Night Football” and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is unsure whether the Cowboys or another team will make the next deal.
“The longer this goes, the more I think he will be playing somewhere else,” Aikman said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday. “If it continues to drag on and he plays great and then the Cowboys come in late to say, ‘Hey, now we want to pay you,’ I don’t know where his head will be at that point.
“But when you look at the numbers, and you didn’t have the names, you just looked at stats — again, I don’t care about stats, I just want to see wins — but wins included, you would put Dak Prescott’s numbers over the last couple of years along with Patrick Mahomes’ (stats). It’s what has happened in the postseason that has separated those two. That’s where the whole organization needs to be better. This isn’t just on Dak Prescott. This goes back for the last 25 to 30 years that the Cowboys have just failed to play their best football when the games have mattered most in January.”
Aikman mentioned Prescott’s name during the conversation while discussing three-time Super Bowl champion Mahomes.
“What I respect so much about Dak,” Aikman said, “is he’s a great leader, he’s a great person. But he’s an old-school guy in that he doesn’t care about anything but winning. And it frustrates him beyond imagination that they haven’t had more success in the postseason.”
Through the first two weeks of training camp, Prescott has appeared like a player entering his tenth season. While his top wide receiver, CeeDee Lamb, is holding out for a contract extension, he is performing at the top of his game and attempting to incorporate younger pass catchers into the playbook.
Dak to Brandin Cooks pic.twitter.com/6ZXgzwPeYa
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 3, 2024
During camp training, Jalen Tolbert, a third-year wide receiver, has shown promise and seems prepared to take over as the team’s third wide receiver behind veteran Brandin Cooks and Lamb. In the last two camps, Prescott would not have tried to throw to Tolbert, but he has been trying and finishing it.
In Year 2, with head coach Mike McCarthy calling plays, the Prescott-to-Tolbert link might assist a club that did not enhance its offensive weapons in the offseason. Of course, many will question if the camp drills will continue into the postseason, given the unforgettable wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers last year. This is true even if the camp workouts continue into the regular season.
Dak Prescott had some high praise for Cowboys WR Jalen Tolbert today: “I told him, your role is to go show that you can be a No. 1 receiver. At minimal, a No. 2 receiver. He’s approached this camp with that intensity, with that mindset.”
Prescott said the guy he spends the most… pic.twitter.com/2iCGsO9inz
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 2, 2024
Could Prescott, 31, take a stride forward and help the offense as well? The NFL MVP runner-up from the previous season thinks he still has brighter days ahead of him.
From the time the two began working together in 2020, McCarthy claimed to have observed improvements in Prescott in nearly every area.
“That’s what I really appreciate about him: He’s always working on his game,” McCarthy said. “You can break it down in the pocket and out of the pocket. Look at his footwork, the adjustments from the system before to now and some of the new footwork. … I look at his flexibility, his shoulders and elbows. I think his (private physical therapist, Luke Miller) does a phenomenal job there with flexibility. You can see the different arm slot throws that he does on a daily basis. I’ve seen some improvement there (compared) to 2020.
“The understanding of the offense — he’s just going to keep getting better. … Love him in the classroom. He’s a sponge. Can’t get enough. Frankly, if he does anything wrong, he probably does a little bit too much away from here, because he’s always working on his game. He’s a guy that’s always looking to improve, and you’re seeing it.”
Prescott feels that having Miller around keeps him from overdoing his off-season training. When a photo of the Cowboys quarterback on vacation with a walking boot on his right foot went viral last month, the quarterback grabbed national attention. It was easy to deduce that he might have gotten hurt working out in the off-season.
But nothing about the way he is played so far in camp—throwing, moving in the pocket, or scrambling—would indicate he is over an injury.
“That’s who I am,” Prescott said. “It’s a fine line that I’m always toeing. But I’ve got to push it to feel like I’m getting better and making myself better, so that’s just pushing that limit, and it’s the risk versus reward.
“And obviously, I’ve got a great, great guy in (Miller) and just being able to help me balance that understanding where we are and where we’re trying to get to, what days that we can push it and other days that we can back off. It’s something that I’m sure that I will toe until I hang up the cleats. And that’s because that’s the only way I know to get better.”
(Photo: Jason Parkhurst / USA Today)
