Years of Dak Prescott betting on himself finally paid off Monday when the Cowboys quarterback signed his long-awaited four-year, $160-million extension, a landmark deal that includes the largest signing bonus ($66 million) in league history. The former Rookie of the Year was leading the NFL in virtually every passing category last year before a gruesome ankle injury ended his season in Week 5. As devastating as the injury was, Dak expects to be a full go for the start of the 2021 regular season. And for that, he has Alex Smith to thank.
“I have to thank Alex Smith,” Prescott said Wednesday during his press conference at the team’s facility in Frisco. “When you’re sitting there and you have an injury like that or you come out of surgery, to see somebody who’s already done it and did it actually in worse circumstances, that allowed my mind to just go straight to, ‘I can do this.’”
Smith, who won Comeback Player of the Year as a member of the Washington Football Team this past season, miraculously returned to the gridiron less than two years after suffering a horrific injury that required 17 surgeries and nearly cost him his leg. The veteran led Washington to its first playoff appearance in five years, though a calf injury kept him from suiting up in WFT’s Wild Card loss to Tampa Bay.
Prescott knew he’d have his work cut out for him after fracturing his ankle, but seeing Smith’s success last season made his road back a little less daunting.
“I’m going to beat this, it’s just a matter of time,” said Prescott, citing Smith’s comeback as inspiration for his own. “I have to thank Alex as someone who has overcome that and won Comeback Player of the Year. Congrats to him.”
Prescott is lucky he had the Cowboys’ support throughout his recovery, a luxury that Smith apparently wasn’t afforded in Washington.
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