Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy says he’s ‘leaning toward’ Dak Prescott not playing in 2023 preseason

Quarterback is the most important position in football, and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is treating Dak Prescott like fine china once again for the 2023 preseason, “leaning toward” his 30-year-old Pro Bowler watching from the sidelines until Week 1 against the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football.”

“We talked about it, but I haven’t made a decision,” McCarthy said Saturday at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California. “I’m leaning toward not. If I had to bet, I’d bet on no. But I don’t bet.”

No NFL player had the opportunity to play preseason football in 2020, McCarthy’s first season as the Cowboys head coach, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prescott was in the process of putting the finishing touches on his rehabilitation from a broken ankle in the 2021 preseason, which is why he didn’t play in those games. He was also rehabbing a different injury, a surgically repaired shoulder, last preseason. 

That means the last time Prescott played preseason was 2019, the final season of former head coach Jason Garrett’s tenure with the Silver and Blue. Prescott is operating at full health this preseason, and McCarthy is opting to use 11-on-11 drills in practice for his quarterback’s maximum activity, despite installing  a revamped “Texas Coast” offense that includes the head coach calling plays for the first time in his run with the Cowboys. This plan opens the door for Cooper Rush, who went 4-1 as the Dallas starter when Prescott was out after having thumb surgery in 2022, and Will Grier, a 2019 third-round pick of the Carolina Panthers, to soak up all of the preseason snaps.

“We have it all written up,” McCarthy said. “We have two plans, and that’s kind of normal. In the first game, we’ll look at a certain combination. In the second game, we may flip one or two guys. I feel good about the responsibility and the way we have it outlined. We’ll have three games to work it.”