Report: Dak Prescott is ‘eyeing’ next week’s matchup against Rams as possible return

The Dallas Cowboys have yet to kick off in their Week 4 game against the Washington Commanders, but their Week 5 status is already more interesting.

The Cowboys saw their franchise quarterback suffer an injury in the season opener when Dak Prescott fractured his thumb during the team’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the time since there have been all sorts of reports and speculation as to when Dak could return, but we are reaching the initial point of his projected window (4-6 weeks).

Some have speculated that Prescott could return during the team’s Week 6 matchup on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, but a report from ESPN on Sunday morning suggested that he could actually return for the Cowboys’ next game after Sunday, the Week 5 road matchup against the reigning Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who had the stitches removed from his surgically repaired thumb and began throwing a football this past week, is eyeing next Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams for a possible return, sources told ESPN.

The Cowboys want to make sure that Prescott is as close to 100% healthy as possible and could push back his return until Week 6 against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, sources said.

If Cooper Rush continues to play well Sunday against the Washington Commanders and the Cowboys continue winning with the veteran backup under center, it would buy Dallas even more time for Prescott to fully recover. The two-time Pro Bowler initially was expected to miss six to eight weeks after breaking the thumb on opening night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Prescott clearly is progressing nicely, however, after the Cowboys elected not to place him on injured reserve. The seven-year veteran is feeling better and is gripping and throwing the football again.

He ideally would like to play off some of the rust next Sunday against the Rams before what could be a pivotal NFC East tilt the following week.

With all due respect to the reigning champion Rams, it makes perfect sense for Prescott to want to “play off some of the rust” against them as opposed to Philadelphia. Games within division are inherently more valuable and the Eagles very much look like contenders this season. Simply put, if the Cowboys can have the Dak they know for one of those games they want it to be the latter.

Perhaps this coming week sees Dak involved in practice and maybe even suited up for the Rams game with Cooper Rush as an option that they trust if they need to. It goes without saying that the more Dallas can win the more room for error they buy themselves.