Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has had time away and processed a very difficult ending to the 2021 season, and now he has started the process of turning the page for 2022.
According to coach Mike McCarthy, Prescott, who passed on the Pro Bowl to rest after a long season, is “back at it” as he rehabs from minor surgery to his non-throwing shoulder. He is at the team’s headquarters working out with about 20-25 players on a regular basis.
One aspect of Prescott’s commitment to helping the Cowboys move on towards 2022 is a bit of accounting that will occur in the coming days when part of his $20 million base salary for next season is converted into a signing bonus to give the team cap relief. The Cowboys are about $21 million over next season’s cap and restructuring Prescott’s contract would clear $15.1 million in cap room.
It was all part of the plan when the Cowboys signed Prescott to a four-year, $160 contract last March and added two voidable years at the end of the deal so the contract could be restructured in 2022.
It speaks to how Prescott and the Cowboys worked to make his record-setting contract, the richest in franchise history, amenable as possible for cap purposes.
McCarthy is simply excited to finally have a full offseason to work with Prescott.
The quarterback missed the entire offseason during McCarthy’s first season in 2020 when he was a contract holdout. And last season he spent the spring rehabbing from a fractured ankle.
McCarthy believes the best is yet to come from Prescott, who set a team record with 37 touchdown passes in 2021.
“His trajectory as a quarterback is on time based on my experience with quarterbacks developing,” McCarthy said. “We’ve done trend lines on Dak and our offense and all those things, statistic evaluation models and so forth. I feel like he still has a ceiling that he can hit as far as performance and that’s exciting.”
McCarthy is most excited about his growing and evolving relationship with Prescott as they enter their third year together.
He has coached Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Brett Favre and four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and Prescott’s character and intangibles take a back seat to no one.
“I just think about the first time I sat down and had lunch with him: It doesn’t take very long where you’re not impressed with him,” McCarthy said. “He’s a good listener, he has a lot of depth, he’s been through a lot too. There’s not too many topics you can talk about that he’s not at least in touch with. He’s a deep young man and I really enjoy our relationship.”
McCarthy remains most impressed with Prescott as a man, a person and a leader. He has no doubt he is the right man who can lead the Cowboys to a championship.
“He’s a special young man,” McCarthy said. “I love our relationship. I think Dak has a huge heart, just emotionally what he’s able to wear every single day. If anything, what I’ve learned is not to do too much. When you get to the players that accept and excel in their responsibility like a Dak Prescott is, their challenge is going to be more ‘don’t try to do too much.’
“I don’t want to say embraces leadership, but he lives it. He’s not a cliché guy, it’s real,” he said. “He’s as genuine and natural as a leader as I’ve ever been exposed to. That’s a huge compliment. I think he wears that compliment and that responsibility very well.”
