The Dak Prescott era has been eerily similar to the Tony Romo era. The team is mostly good when the QB is healthy, but in rare seasons, they go down with a season-ending injury. It happened twice to Romo (2010 and 2015) and now twice to Prescott. What is Prescott’s injury, and will he be back at 100% by 2025?
What Is Dak Prescott’s Injury?
In 2020, Prescott suffered a gruesome broken ankle in Week 5 that was very clearly a season-ender. We knew right away.
This year, Prescott felt something in his hamstring in the team’s Week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. At the time, while it was enough to end Prescott’s day, nothing about the injury suggested it was overly severe.
“Yeah, we gotta get it looked at,” Prescott said. “Felt it on the little scramble to the left. Felt it, didn’t think much. Then on the next play, throwing that the stop route to the field, pulled something, I felt something I never felt. It was tough to walk on it at that point.”
“I saw the medical team and asked, ‘Could I make it worse?’ At that point, they said I wouldn’t be able to protect myself and made the call to hold me out.”
When Will Prescott Return From Injury?
Initial reports were that Prescott would be out 3-4 weeks and the team was mulling placing him on injured reserve (IR). Subsequent tests revealed Prescott didn’t just strain his hamstring, he tore it partially off the bone.
This significance of his hamstring injury requires surgery, which Prescott had ahead of Week 11. It comes with an approximate recovery timeline of three months. Before Week 12, the Cowboys placed their quarterback on IR, ending his season.
MORE: NFL Injury Report
The good news is there is nothing about this injury that has any major long-term concerns. Prescott’s broken ankle in 2020 clearly impacted his mobility the following season. This hamstring tear will be fully recovered by the start of the new league year. Once training camp rolls around, Prescott should be experiencing no adverse effects from the injury and should be all systems go for Week 1 in 2025.
How Will Prescott’s Absence Impact the Cowboys?
The Cowboys got off to a 3-4 start to the regular season with Prescott as the team’s starting quarterback. Despite Dallas’ early season struggles, many expected the team to turn things around down the stretch.
But following Prescott’s injury, it felt like the Cowboys’ postseason hopes were coming to an end. Cooper Rush has stepped in for Prescott and played in his first start of 2024 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Rush completed just 13 of 23 passes for 45 yards in a blowout loss to the Eagles.
After struggling in his 2024 starting debut, Rush bounced back in each of his next two games. Rush completed 32 of 55 passes for 354 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans.
He then had his strongest performance of the regular season in an upset victory over the Washington Commanders. Rush completed 24 of 32 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns as the Cowboys shocked the Commanders on the road.
At 4-7, the Cowboys are not yet mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. They will probably remain in win-now mode until they are. Eventually, they will accept that this is not a playoff team without Prescott (and wasn’t with him, anyway).