With his new contract in tow and surgically-repaired ankle improving by the day, Dak Prescott is making the most of his final months of the offseason prior to OTAs as the face of the Dallas Cowboys. Prescott and girlfriend, Natalie Buffett, have spent the past few days in the Bahamas celebrating a birthday, one of the last opportunities at leisure for the two-time Pro Bowler before the preseason grind begins.
Prescott and Buffett began dating in 2020 and have shared the social media spotlight since.
Prescott signed a four-year extension worth $160 million last month, ending long-standing negotiations with the Cowboys and solidifying his future in the process.
The move by Dallas was a hot topic for quite some time, dating back to as far as last summer. In July of 2020, after months of negotiations, Dallas placed the franchise tag on Prescott for the 2020 season. That paid him a guaranteed $31.409 million for the season and bought both sides more time to reach a new agreement. And early in the 2020 season, it looked like Prescott was playing at a level that would earn him a long-term extension in no time at all.
Through the first five games of the 2020 season, Prescott was having one of the best starts of his five-year NFL career. Though Dallas was 1-3 going into the Week 5 game against the New York Giants, Prescott was doing all he could to will it to victory. The former Mississippi State star and fourth-round pick in 2016 had completed 68% of his passes for 1,856 yards and nine touchdowns. Prescott had also rushed for 93 yards and three scores on 18 carries. But before the end of that game, disaster struck Prescott and the Cowboys.
With a little under seven minutes to go in the third quarter, the Cowboys led the Giants by a point and were threatening to score once again. Prescott took off on a quarterback draw and nearly had another first down before he was tackled by Logan Ryan. After being tackled, Prescott immediately reached for his ankle and fans watching on TV could see the injury was rather severe.
The Cowboys would later diagnose Prescott’s injury as a compound fracture and dislocation of the right ankle. He was carted off the field, visibly heartbroken by the injury, and underwent surgery shortly after leaving the stadium.
Dallas held on to beat New York that day but would go on to lose six of its next seven games, playing Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci and Garrett Gilbert at quarterback at various times throughout that rough stretch. On January 5, 2021 — two days after the Cowboys lost to the Giants to finish 6-10 and miss the playoffs for the second straight season — team owner and general manager Jerry Jones admitted that Prescott had leverage on the team in the negotiations after seeing how the year played out without him.
