Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is no stranger to Internet trolls or hate, but what people might not know is the tough-skinned quarterback faced plenty of off-field issues.
Prescott attended Mississippi State before being the fourth round pick in 2016 to the Cowboys. During his Dallas tenure, Prescott was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Walter Payton Man of the Year, second-team All-Pro, three-time Pro Bowler, the NFL passing touchdowns leader, PFWA All-Rookie Team, two-time first-team All-SEC and broke three NFL records.
Just three years before getting into the league, Prescott’s mother, Peggy, suffered and eventually lost her battle from colon cancer. Knowing the toll losing a loved one has on your mental health, Prescott silently dealt with the grief.
That grief took a turn for the worse when his brother and his mother’s caretaker, Jace, committed suicide in 2020 due to his own mental health struggles. The struggles with his mother’s cancer battle and brother’s suicide came to a boiling point for Prescott during quarantine struggling from these issues.
Eventually, Prescott opened up in 2020 about his anxiety and depression battles, paving the way for other athletes to be open about the topic of mental health, too. His opening up was met with immense support from fans, family and the NFL family – even fans of opposing teams.
One of the biggest advocacy efforts that Prescott was apart of was working with the “Faith, Fight, Finish Foundation” to push for legislation to create the eventual three-digit suicide prevention hotline, 988. During game days, Prescott also frequently wrote “Ask 4 Help” on his wrist tape, serving as a reminder to never be afraid to lean on help.
Other public advocacy efforts include his work that led to his Walter Payton Man of the Year win and participating with media discussing the topic of athletes’ mental health.
“If I wouldn’t have talked about those things to the people I did, I wouldn’t have realized my friends and a lot more people go through them — and they are as common as they are,” Prescott said in an interview with Graham Bensinger.
“If I wouldn’t have talked about those things to the people I did, I wouldn’t have realized my friends and a lot more people go through them — and they are as common as they are,” he said.
First & Jenn 
Leave a comment