Getty Dak Prescott
He’s Daaaaaaak.
On Monday, 225 days after compound-fracturing and dislocating his right ankle, putting into doubt his NFL future, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott returned to practice, participating amid the start of Organized Team Activities (OTAs).
On Tuesday, 226 days later, Prescott did “most things,” as head coach Mike McCarthy predicted he would. These “things” included throwing and scrambling during seven-on-seven and individual drills. His arm looked good. His ankle looked better, more than seven months recovered from emergency surgery.
The Cowboys released video footage of Tuesday’s session — the first official footage of Prescott, now the league’s second-highest-paid passer, since that fateful episode.
A look at Dak Prescott early in today’s OTA practice. Video credit: Dallas Cowboys.
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Dak Feels ‘Ready to Go’ Into 2021 Season
Both Prescott’s camp and the Cowboys’ front office consistently maintained throughout the recovery process that the former Pro Bowl signal-caller is likely to return ahead of his projected six-to-eight-month post-surgical timetable, which included a December clean-up procedure.
Prescott was assured of being ready for Week 1 of the regular season, and training camp in late July seemed like a surety, too. But how much sooner could he hit the field? That question was just recently answered.
“Hard to say the exact day, but I’d say two weeks ago, maybe even close to a month in a sense,” Prescott told reporters Tuesday, via Pro Football Talk. “Just the first time I started jumping on this leg and landing on this leg alone, cutting off this leg, doing a lot of the things that I naturally do in a game and doing them in a reactive form of not necessarily a calculated, ‘I’m going to cut here,’ but just reacting and being able to do those moves and not feeling anything and not necessarily having a nagging residual pain afterwards, I felt like then I was ready to go.”
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Dallas Safer-Than-Sorry with Prescott
Despite his highly encouraging progress, the $160 million franchise cornerstone is being treated with kid gloves — for now. The Cowboys precautionarily held Prescott out of 11-on-11 drills, to avoid any potentially aggravating contact, and plan to enforce a rest day Wednesday.
Prescott also debuted an extended warmup “to get the leg going,” something that wasn’t required pre-injury. But he assured it’s all part of the plan, and reaffirmed his health relative to the NFL calendar.
“I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily limited,” he said Tuesday, per Pro Football Talk. “I think it’s just being cautious and being smart in the fact that I’m not doing things when there’s a pass rush or guys potentially falling at the legs or something of that nature. As far as saying I can’t do drills or I can’t do something, I’m pretty much full go.”
Prescott added: “Not being limited or not being restricted to doing anything kind of says it alone that I’m ready to go. I don’t know as far as being tackled or the ankle being jerked and stuff under a pile obviously we’re not there yet, but we’re far from being there. I’m good to go really.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL