Mike McCarthy offered glowing praise of Dak Prescott's offseason on Wednesday.
Despite a looming contract situation and a lack of splashy improvements in free agency, McCarthy sees the quarterback as having the best spring of any year since the coach took over in 2020.
"I think Dak is having his best offseason program that we've had," McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday, via the team's official website. "This atmosphere that we've practiced in with the quarterback and receivers has really hit the mark. I've been very impressed with the quality of work."
From the outside, the comment sounds hollow. On paper, the Cowboys failed to upgrade their talent, top receiver CeeDee Lamb hasn't participated in workouts, and the narrative surrounding Dallas is that the club is going through the motions. However, McCarthy said that Prescott's leadership has filled all the gaps.
"With the quarterback, when the connection is there in the perimeter realm -- and that's been the majority of our physical activity -- the connection is better," McCarthy said. "The receivers are playing with more urgency, more reps. The timing is better. The real test will be when we get to training camp."
For his part, Prescott agrees with McCarthy's assessment of his offseason.
"I agree because it's what I put into this game," Prescott said. "It's what this game means to me. I talk about it every offseason. My focus is always getting better overall in every aspect that I can and in every aspect of my game and making sure I'm pushing the guys around me. Mike's comments are a result of us doing that this offseason."
Sometimes, when the outside noise is swirling, players in the building can hunker down and focus on the task at hand.
The Cowboys hope Prescott turns that "best offseason" into his "best regular season" and "best playoff run." Then they'll have to deal with the contract situation.
