Cowboys’ Dak Prescott says he could play right now
Yahoo Sports’ Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson goes 1-on-1 with the Dallas quarterback. Prescott says he feels great, and knows he’d be successful even now. Dak there is a sense of relief heading into a season with a big new contract. The Cowboys qb has partnered with Sleep Number for several years now, so he knows one of the easiest and most effective ways to optimize recovery and perform at your best on the field is through consistent, high-quality sleep each night.
Sleep Number is the official Sleep and Wellness Partner of the NFL.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: All right, well we're here with Dak Prescott, starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and also a spokesman for Sleep Number, the official sleep partner of the NFL. And we want to talk to you about that Dak, but I want to ask you real quick before we get to that, Mike McCarthy came out, said the rehab's going great, had a chance to look at you. You said you've been in the facility as many as four times a week as the offseason's rolled on. Can you tell us a little bit about the rehab? How you feel and sort of where you are on that timeline?
DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah I mean, I feel great honestly. Close to being back to what I'd call my self, ready to just go play in a game and go dominate. But I could play in a game now and be very successful, so that just tells you where I am in the rehab process.
As coach says, just getting up to the start, just trying to do everything that I can to improve. Obviously and then with a lot of help from Sleep Number and just the bed and the app that allows me to record my sleep and which directly correlates with my recovery. It's been an exciting process, so I'm excited to be where I am, and excited for tomorrow and just the growth.
CHARLES ROBINSON: It sounds like it's been a lot of participation at the start. You know Mike McCarthy said that everybody is like 100% on the Zoom, and then also a lot of guys showing up for the workouts in-house there. I mean, are you-- does it feel good to sort of see basically the team showing out saying, hey, we're all going to be here together working toward the 2021 season again, given what it was last year?
DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah, I mean it feels it feels great but I think you just said, as what it was last year, the moment you think about that every player wants to get that taste out of their mouth, and to move forward, and put a better performance on the field, and put a better season together, and go actually make a run at a Super Bowl.
So I mean, I think that right there shows you why so many people are there. It's because we've got the right kind of guys. We've got the right teammates that want to get better, and they're doing everything that they can to make sure that we don't repeat, and have a season like we had, and that we grow and be proud of what we want it to be.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Now this is the first time we've talked in a while. We haven't had to talk about a contract. It's done. It's in the books. Like, it's the future is set. How good does it feel to have an offseason where you're not-- every reporter, you're just waiting for the contract question?
DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah it's great to know that this is probably my last question about my contract, and the last time people ask me about it for hopefully a few years. So it's just good to have that out the way. The contract and all the controversy is something I never fed into or gave a lot of energy into it, but I stayed focused and controlled what I could control, but it's just good to not have people asking you, and I'm wondering what's going going and just to know my future to be honest.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Can you tell me a little bit about how Sleep Number factors into this? I mean, you talked about obviously mental health, physical health. Sleep is a big thing, particularly for NFL players. It's hard to get a lot of it, but you do need a lot of it. Where is Sleep Number kind of factored into that for you?
DAK PRESCOTT: Sleep is huge and Sleep Number has been my edge, my edge for mental health and my competitive edge for sports performance. I think sleep is the central part of your mental clarity. It allows you to recover. It's when your body shuts down. It's like a computer. I think a lot of times that people's mental health problems come from lack of sleep.
It's been crucial for me and it's been crucial that I have the technology to go back and look at how deep sleep I was, or if I didn't feel too great today, or you know I'm wondering why I'm feeling sluggish, I can go back and see my numbers were lower and then say, hey, I want to make those better tonight, so I'm going to go to bed earlier and do that.
So Sleep Number's been vital for me, for my mental health, for my sports performance and right now for my recovery. So I'm thankful for this relationship and just, yeah, those guys coming into the picture when they did, and allowing me to take that step, and have that edge.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Is that almost part of analytics now in football? Like sleep analytics, I mean it matters.
DAK PRESCOTT: It is, it definitely matters. I mean, I know as a team couple of years ago, even I mean last year I believe, so we've had people come in, sleep experts come in, and talk about what they thought sleep does. I mean you look at us, a lot of great athletes, and some guys sleep 10 to 12 hours, some guys sleep 6 and they get a nap, but if you ask any great athlete they usually have a schedule or they know what works best for them to get them to their peak performance. And so I think sleep is vital and it's huge and people need to take it more serious whether you're an athlete or not, because as I said, it's the central part of mental clarity.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Well, I just want to say thank you for taking time out of the rehab, taking time out of the offseason. I know it's been a busy offseason for you. Wish you luck, and look forward to seeing you on the field, and maybe back to a little bit of normalcy in the NFL season in 2020.
DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah, I appreciate you. Thanks for having me on, brother.