Who would have thought even a few weeks ago, that concern over a Dak Prescott injury prior to the 2021 season would have absolutely nothing to do with his ankle? Unlikely as it may have seemed then, that is the case now and as the regular season quickly approaches, Cowboys fans are more than a little worried about the availability of their starting quarterback.
Recent comments by CBS Sports senior NFL reporter Jonathan Jones on the DA Show echo the concerns of Cowboy fans and bring into question the organization’s claims that the star QB is being held back for precautionary reasons. Jones brought up a few interesting points:
“He gets to training camp, it’s a non-contact injury. So, that’s No. 1. That’s always concerning in football. No. 2, it’s not the usual throwing shoulder injury. It’s underneath the shoulder, more of a baseball injury. Well, that’s weird. No. 3, you have some of the finest doctors in all of team sports now consulting with other team doctors…..To say that there’s nothing to worry about and for the Cowboys to be preaching. ‘Just being cautious, we’re okay,’ I do certainly believe — just on a very basic, common sense level — that there’s more worry there than they’re willing to say.”
Jonathan Jones, CBS Sports Senior NFL Reporter
This most recent Dak Prescott injury, to his throwing arm, is definitely a cause for at least some mild concern. It is not a typical injury with a typical prognosis or a predictable time frame to completely heal. There is no indication that Dak’s availability for week 1 is up in the air as a result of the injury, but will he be at 100 percent? Could the injury linger and impact his performance for the entire season? Even if Dak is good to go for the season opener, his availability for the preseason is very much in doubt. That is also a little concerning considering he hasn’t played a game since breaking his ankle in week 5 last season. Dak can certainly be expected to be a little rusty and he will be facing the reigning Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their vaunted defensive front. He will also carry the burden of added pressure due to his $160 million dollar contract extension which carries with it lofty expectations. If Dak Prescott does anything but hit the ground running in 2021, the wolves will come out in full force claiming that the Cowboys made a mistake and that Prescott wasn’t worth the big contract.
But by far the biggest concern about this latest Dak Prescott injury is that the Cowboys do not have a viable back-up quarterback. Unlike last season when the Cowboys brought in an experienced veteran in Andy Dalton, the Cowboys only have Garrett Gilbert, Cooper Rush, and Ben DiNucci on the depth chart. The three of them combined have 2 career NFL starts between them and only Garrett Gilbert looks anything like a somewhat capable NFL backup quarterback.
For now, Cowboys fans can only hold their breath and hope for the best. The Dallas Cowboys are not going to simply lay all of their cards on the table. They will tell everyone and anyone that they are resting Dak Prescott only as a precaution whether or not it is truly fact or fiction. Dak Prescott is not going to sit idly bye either. He is a professional athlete and a competitor, so he will chose to play whether he is 100 percent healthy or not; so long as the team is willing to let him do it of course. As always, only time will tell the whole story.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode