Dak Prescott Discusses CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys WRs amid Concerns Following Injuries

Dak Prescott (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott
downplayed concerns about the team’s playmaking depth amid injuries
to wide receivers James Washington and Michael Gallup.

Prescott told reporters Thursday that
No. 1 target CeeDee Lamb is more than prepared to handle a heavier
workload:

“CeeDee is a guy that wants the
ball, expects the ball. When one guy is on him he’s not covered in
his head. And I appreciate that and like that. So I think in that
sense yeah, as [offensive coordinator] Kellen [Moore] said, we’ll
feature him. Some plays will be designed to get it to him but in a
case where everybody is one on one across the board, yeah, he’s our
guy to go to. We’re just going to continue to try to build our trust
in each other and just all the routes and it’s been growing fast
honestly since the spring, into training camp. It’s exciting.”

While there’s no doubting Lamb’s talent
after he recorded 2,037 yards across his first two NFL seasons, he’s
going to face a lot of double teams to open the new campaign, which
is going to put pressure on the Cowboys’ other wideouts.

Now there are questions about where
that production will come from after Washington, who was signed as a
free agent from the Pittsburgh Steelers in March, suffered a
fractured foot that will sideline him for at least six weeks, while
Gallup continues to recover from a torn ACL.

Prescott named two rookies, Dennis
Houston and Jalen Tolbert, as players who’ve impressed throughout the
early stages of training camp:

“A lot of young guys have stepped
up. Just to say one would be cheating the other. But obviously Dennis
Houston and Tolbert, just to start off on who have been in there and
taken more reps. You’re asking ‘hey, give us an X, give us a Z,’ just
coming in, just trying to play whatever position and be available to
the offense. That’s how you get on the field, doing as many things as
you can and doing it at a high level. That’s what these young guys
are doing right now.”

Other players fighting for more time
within Dallas’ first-team offense include Noah Brown and T.J. Vasher.

Prescott, a two-time Pro Bowl selection
who threw 37 touchdown passes in 2021, said the bottom line is the
offense has players prepared to fill the voids:

“You’re never going to catch me
looking at anything in my life as a step back. You’ve got an
opportunity to move forward, you’ve got an opportunity to grow. If
you don’t do that, you’re in trouble and you’ve already lost to begin
with. I just know, the young guys that we’ve got, the guys that we
already have are going to step in and take on bigger roles. I
continue to say exciting, but that’s what it is. And the reason is,
is because I feel like a lot of you—and people don’t know
necessarily—what these guys are, what these guys can do.”

The Cowboys get their preseason
schedule started Aug. 13 when they visit the Denver Broncos.

They will then feature in one of the
marquee games during Week 1 of the regular season when they welcome
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to AT&T Stadium on Sept.
11.