The Dallas Cowboys suffered a tough blow on Sunday night with the news that Dak Prescott would need surgery on his throwing hand. The initial thoughts were that the quarterback would miss at least six to eight weeks, but there’s a chance that he returns before that window.
One of the interesting things about Prescott’s injury is that the Cowboys did not place him on injured reserve despite undergoing surgery earlier this week. Jerry Jones said that he thinks Prescott could play in the next four games, but there is another benefit to keeping him off the IR.
Bryan Broaddus and Bobby Belt broke that down on Audacy’s “Love of the Star” podcast.
“A real key thing is by them not putting him on IR, he can go practice. So they can take him out on the field and they can work him in drills and stuff like that,” Broaddus said (5:05 in player above). “We’re probably not going to be privy to any of this, but they can take him and go and work. He’s still on the active roster and is treated as such.”
Prescott still being on the active roster allows him the flexibility to work through his recovery and determine when he’s ready to go.
“So if you’re on the active roster and he can say it’s coming along swell, they could put him in practice,” he continued. “They could let him throw drills in practice and that’s how they determine.”
This isn’t an unusual move by the Cowboys. It’s much like what they’re doing with Michael Gallup, Broaddus explained.
“You put Michael Gallup out there. You let him run routes and stuff like that as being part of the active roster,” he said. “So it’s key they didn’t put him on the injured list to miss that time because if they did they wouldn’t have the availability to test him as the injury heals.”
The Cowboys will let Cooper Rush and Will Grier handle things at quarterback for the foreseeable future. Dallas is slated to play the Bengals, Giants, Commanders, and Rams in the next four weeks before a Sunday Night showdown in Philadelphia in Week 6.
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