No longer an NFL darling, the time is now for aging Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott

It seems like it was only yesterday when Dak Prescott came out of nowhere as an unassuming fourth-round NFL Draft pick in 2016.

He replaced an injured Tony Romo as quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and fashioned one of the finest rookie seasons for a quarterback in NFL history, certainly the best in franchise history.

Prescott led the Cowboys to a franchise-record-tying 13 wins, winning Rookie of the Year honors, prompting a giddy vice president Stephen Jones to promise he would one day make him the richest player in NFL history.

Eight years have passed and the magic carpet ride is clearly over for Prescott, who will turn 30 on Saturday wondering where the time has gone.

Prescott got his money, becoming the second richest player in NFL history in 2021 before falling to a tie for 10th as the new deals have come down over the past few years.

But the journey has had its pitfalls and travails with Prescott going from an NFL darling as a rookie to arguably the league’s most scrutinized player on the most-watched team in the NFL.

With just two playoff wins on his resume and coming off a season when he led the NFL with 15 interceptions, the Cowboys’ franchise quarterback is heading into the 2023 season with his eyes open.

He has a greater sense of urgency to break through in the playoffs and reach the Super Bowl, ending a 28-year gap since the club’s last title in 1995.

“It goes by fast. Super blessed to be turning 30, going into my eighth year, playing a game that I love at the most elite level,” Prescott said. “Something you’ve dreamed about for a long time. It just goes by fast. That’s my message to these young guys. It just happens fast. It adds to the urgency.”

Prescott says he knew it would be hard to win the NFL, but he admits to being spoiled by his fast start.

“The way my rookie year went, it kind of messed my head up and I didn’t think it’d be this hard in the six years following,” Prescott said. “But I don’t want it if it’s easy. I’ve never gotten anything easy in my life. I don’t ask for anything, and I’m damn sure not going to ask now. That’s part of it.”

It’s not lost on Prescott that he’s the last man standing from an outstanding rookie class in 2016 that included two-time NFL rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott, the fourth overall pick who was cut in March.

What was once thought to be the foundation of a return to glory has been reduced to a party of one.

It has only strengthened his resolve that the future is not promised to anyone in the NFL.

“It did hit me,” Prescott said. “It just speaks to urgency. Yeah, I’m blessed to play this game, blessed to be in this organization. But as you see, it’s a business, it’s not forever for everybody and I know what I want to do, I know what I want to accomplish, and I know what this team wants and it’s about that now.”

The Cowboys continue to believe that Prescott is the right man to lead them back to the Super Bowl.

Stephen Jones has said wants Prescott to be the team’s quarterback for another 10 years. With his four-year, $160 contract expiring in 2024, the Cowboys hope to sign him to a contract extension in the coming months.

The Cowboys and Prescott believe he will cut down on the interceptions of last season.

“What I expect is not the unexpected. What last year represented relative to turnovers was unexpected,” owner Jerry Jones said. “I expect to see what we expect from Dak, which is don’t turn the ball over, be protective of the ball. When I think of Dak, that’s the first thing that comes to my mind. That’s what he does good.”

Said Prescott: “I am going to (reduce) my interception numbers. That is a guarantee.”

The Cowboys are buoyed by the changes on offense with coach Mike McCarthy taking over play-calling and installing a scheme that allows everyone to be on the same page and make Prescott a better decision-maker.

But also because of who Prescott is and has always been: a hard worker and leader.

The experience of last season and all the talk about his play has only strengthened his resolve to maximize every moment and every opportunity, which wasn’t always the case for himself and his teammates in the past.

“Only thing that I can do is get up and keep swinging. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do every chance that I get,” Prescott said. “So every opportunity to come in and out of practice is about being purposeful. It’s about understanding and making sure the young guys understand that we’ve got to be purposeful and intentional in everything that we do because we don’t know when these reps are going to come up.

“Me personally and this team, we’ve been bit by that the last couple of years when we needed it. It’s just about not taking a play for granted, taking a moment or walk-through for granted, communicating our asses off. Just putting our best foot forward each and every day.”

That message was the impetus of a pre-camp trip to Georgia a couple of weeks ago with roughly 17 players, including quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends — organized and primarily financed by Prescott.

“They got their plane trips. That was it,” Prescott said sheepishly. “So the rest I took care of. Old and young.”

It was bonding trip. It was a work trip. It was a fun trip that including fishing, boating, tubing and jokes about Prescott’s age as the old man in the room.

Prescott also brought in O2X Human Performance, which is composed of Special Operations veterans and former Olympians, to speak to the group about life and elite performance.

“I don’t think I can really put into words and really quantify what all we got from that and how much that is going to serve us as we move forward,” Prescott said. “Obviously, getting to work with a great group and elite group like 02X, they brought so much from the camaraderie side, but how to use the accountability, how to gain more trust, how to make sure that’s what you lean back on in time of pressure, in the times of adversity.

“The camaraderie being on the water with the guys, hanging out with the guys, and getting the great work in we needed in that time with two weeks to go to make sure we came into camp hitting it. Every guy will tell you they benefited from it that they will use for themselves personally and they will use to help this team.”

Although critics continue to point to his interceptions, it’s Prescott’s character and leadership that continue to standout for the Cowboys. The trip was just the latest example.

“He organized the whole trip,” McCarthy said. “Frankly, having the conversations with the young guys like CeeDee [Lamb] and Jalen [Tolbert], the way it impacted them really touched those guys. It was awesome and that’s what leadership is. In today’s game, you have to have it. I tell these guys all the time, they cross the white lines and play the game so it’s about the players. He’s an incredible leader.”

Receiver Brandin Cooks, acquired in a trade from the Houston Texans in March, says Prescott has few peers when it comes to leadership at the quarterback position in the NFL. And this comes from a guy who has played with Super Bowl champions Drew Brees and Tom Brady in his career.

“I’ll never get into comparing, but one thing I say about Dak is just the way he’s able to lead. I talked to some of the guys about that the other day. Leading you just can’t fake it. And the way that that leads is so authentic. You’ll follow that man anywhere. So that alone right there is the number one key in my opinion you got to have from a quarterback. He has that and more.”

He just needs to win.