Dak Prescott expected to be ready for Cowboys camp, will “do most things” during OTAs

We may obsess over the Dallas Cowboys trying to fix their defense. The rookies are practicing already and we have to remind ourselves not to read too much into Nahshon Wright and Jabril Cox snagging some interceptions in carefully controlled work. OTAs and the minicamp are next. While access is so limited, we still will comb the internet for every scrap of news about what is happening.

All that is rather normal for this time of year. But one bit of news deals with the thing that, above all, will influence how 2021 goes for the team. That is a report from Todd Archer of ESPN that head coach Mike McCarthy not only expects quarterback Dak Prescott to be fully cleared for practice when training camp rolls around, hopefully back in Oxnard where it belongs, the boss man expects to see Prescott working during the OTAs and minicamp.

“He’ll do most things,” McCarthy said when asked what he anticipates Prescott will do during the on-field work. “There’s a plan in place that’s coordinated with [athletic trainers Britt Brown and Jim Maurer] and the training room so I know he feels really good. He’s really had some excellent workouts here in the last couple weeks. I’d see him doing most of the work.”

This is not to say that all the other things the team is working on are not important. They assuredly are. One thing that will be closely watched, for instance, is how injured offensive linemen Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, La’el Collins, and Tyler Biadasz have recovered from their own season-ending injuries. But it is the guy they protect that will have the biggest impact.

It was a devastating injury that ended Prescott’s season, and it is completely understandable to have some apprehension about his recovery until we can see how he performs on the field. If he is indeed able to do most of the work in the OTAs, that will go a long way to reassuring us.

It looks like the staff already thinks it is all going to work out.