OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott will throw for a second straight day at training camp, if not take part in a full practice, as he continues to ramp up his work from a latissimus strain suffered on July 28.
He is expected to go through the Quarterback School, which are individual drills and situational work, but not do any real throwing during team periods. On Tuesday, Prescott threw roughly 30 passes to Amari Cooper off to a side field.
“It’s only natural when you shut a quarterback down completely throwing, then there’s a process to build him back up,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “We’ll continue to go through that regimen today. So he’ll do a little more throwing today than he did yesterday.”
Prescott reported no additional soreness before Wednesday’s practice.
“Everything is good,” McCarthy said. “He’s feeling good and just wants to keep progressing.”
Said executive vice president Stephen Jones, “I totally get some people having question marks when we’re being as conservative as we are with Dak. As you can see Dak in Hard Knocks, you have to protect the guy from himself. I mean this guy is a working machine and he wants to be out there. He’s driven. Wants to lead this team, wants to be out there on the field, doing everything, but we’ve got to manage it. We’re going to be very conservative. As you can see he’s going to be fine. It’s just managing this situation the right way.”
While Prescott will not play Friday against the Arizona Cardinals, McCarthy and Jones said the team would like to get him some preseason work.
“I hope so. We’ll just see how today goes, then we’ll get back to Frisco and stay on course,” McCarthy said. “Yeah, it would be great.”
What will factor into the Cowboys’ decision is who else is playing against the Texans or in their last preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jones is not concerned about Prescott rolling into the season opener Sept. 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers without any preseason work, despite not playing since suffering his right ankle injury last October.
“I know people worry about that, but I think that’s overrated,” Jones said. “I just think these guys, I mean Dak Prescott knows how to play the game of football and whether he plays a series or two in Houston isn’t going to affect how he’s going to play in the opener against Tampa.”