'Baby Fat': How Dak Prescott Changed His Body - & Can Change Cowboys Offense

Prescott's weight (somewhere in the 230's range) is about the same. And never in his NFL career has he "not been in shape.'' But ...

FRISCO - Once upon a time, college guy Dak Prescott feasted on "Taco Bell and McDonald’s,'' as the Dallas Cowboys quarterback now admits.

But going into the 2022 NFL season?

“Total. Ever,” the seventh-year Cowboys quarterback said of his all-time-low level of leanness. “In college, I was a meathead. I’m leaner.”

Prescott's weight (somewhere in the 230's range) is about the same. And never in his NFL career has he "not been in shape.'' But the work he's doing on his body - made more possible by full health following a year of ankle rehab, a sore shoulder and a calf injury - has moved him to a new level.

“It’s a product of working on everything,'' said Dak, who said he has confidence right now that is "through the roof.'' "Whether it be rotation, whether it be diet or whatever, just focused on every way I can get better.

“I think I have just dropped some of the baby fat off.”

The result? Some tinkering with the offensive game plan after coaches watched Prescott execute with ease and increased flexibility scramble drills and mobility tests in minicamp.

“To have no limits has been outstanding, and I think you clearly see it in the way he’s moving this year,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “You look at his body; he’s clearly different than the way he was last year. He’s leaner, more flexible and just the mechanics, to be able to really get after the mechanics.''

McCarthy said that last year there was a level of conservatism in what was asked of Prescott in drills.

Said the coach: "There was a gradual phase of the different type of drills, how we did them. So there was no progression to that this year. He’s been full-go since Day 1.”

And the game plan? The Cowboys believe a more nimble Prescott will be able to run more, whether that's on designed plays or while extending plays. That doesn't mean putting the $40 million-a-year quarterback in needless danger - “Risk vs. reward,” Prescott said. But it is about adding weaponry to a Cowboys offense coming off a season in which it ranked high in most every NFL category.

How many more runs?

“I expect to have about 20 carries a game,” Dak joked.

How many more runs to fast-food joints?

Zero, we assume.

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