The Dallas Cowboys have yet to officially place Dak Prescott on injured reserve.
The Dallas Cowboys received some horrible but expected news on Saturday. Sort of.
It was reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Dak Prescott is just about set to undergo season-ending surgery related to his hamstring injury; however, Schefter noted that Prescott is awaiting the opinion of one final expert who he will meet with.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott is planning to undergo season-ending surgery on his partially torn hamstring, pending the opinion of one final specialist, sources told ESPN.
Prescott is flying to New York to meet with the specialist, but Cowboys doctors already believe he needs the… pic.twitter.com/r5Qy9gnYid
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 9, 2024
The report notes that Prescott is headed to New York but that team doctors believe he needs season-ending surgery. Barring a turn of events from the specialist in question we have seen the last of Dak until 2025.
It is interesting that this Schefter word notes that Cowboys team doctors believe that Prescott needs season-ending surgery given that the Cowboys are currently yet to officially place Prescott on injured reserve. Saturday also brought word that they would not which is difficult to make sense of.
This leaves open the possibility of Dak returning in less than 4 games … but also means he’d miss at least 5 if they IR him later. https://t.co/pTr1uiItwT
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 9, 2024
As the Cowboys made their elevations ahead of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles the transactional processes did not include placing Prescott on injured reserve. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero noted the literal consequences of that, that Prescott will now miss at minimum five games if he is placed on injured reserve after this week’s game.
In case you are unaware, when a player is placed on injured reserve they must miss at least four games minimum. Prescott missing the Eagles game while not on injured reserve obviously means that he would have to miss four beyond it.
To be perfectly clear there this entire situation is a tough one for the Cowboys to navigate, but it is hard (without being inside of the team’s brain-trust, admittedly) to see the reason or logic behind delaying placing Prescott on injured reserve. The only way in which not placing him on IR would make sense (in a literal sense, forgetting the team’s record, playoff positioning for the moment or the season-ending report that started this whole post) is if he is able to return in under four weeks as Pelissero noted.
But once more, given the severity (the reported severity at least) of Prescott’s injury that seems extraordinarily unlikely. With this being the case, delaying the placement on injured reserve is only lengthening the potential issue. It is akin to how the Cowboys delayed the extensions for CeeDee Lamb and Prescott himself that they ultimately gave to them.
Sometimes the most simple and obvious solution is the best one.
It is rarely the one that the Cowboys pursue, though.
All the best to Dak Prescott.