Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott opens up on brother’s suicide, his own COVID-19 depression
Quarterback Dak Prescott finally detailed a tumultuous offseason that had nothing to do with the much-talked about narrative of failing to get a contract extension from Dallas Cowboys.
In an interview for an upcoming episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Prescott confirmed that his brother, Jace, died by suicide last April and that he battled depression due to the coronavirus pandemic even before that.
When Jace Prescott died on April 23 in Orange, Texas, at the age of 31, the cause of death was not reported by local authorities. It remains listed as an active investigation by the Pinehurst Police Department.
Prescott told Bensinger that it was his father Nathaniel, who called to inform him about what happened to Jace, who was the Cowboys quarterback’s middle brother.
Prescott acknowledged that Jace had carried a lot of burdens as he was the main caregiver to his mother Peggy before she died of colon cancer in 2013.
“I mean, obviously tears and tears and tears,” Prescott said in the interview that is scheduled to air this weekend. “I mean, I sat there and tried to gather what had happened, and wanted to ask why for so many reasons ... and as much as you want to ask why as much as this, I mean, I know my brother, and as we said, he had a lot of burdens on him.”
Prescott also admitted that he fought through a bout with depression in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic that began with a shutdown and quarantines across the country that began in mid-March.
“All throughout this quarantine and this offseason, I started experiencing emotions I’ve never felt before,” Prescott said. “Anxiety for the main one. And then, honestly, a couple of days before my brother passed, I would say I started experiencing depression. And to the point of, I didn’t want to work out anymore. I didn’t know necessarily what I was going through, to say the least, and hadn’t been sleeping at all.”
And that’s on top of the not having finalized the long-term contract he so badly desired.
Prescott is playing in 2020 on the one-year franchise tag of $31.4 million after he and the Cowboys couldn’t get a deal done by July 15. The two sides can’t negotiate again until after the season.
He remains hopeful that it will all get worked out and he is focused on being a Cowboy for the remainder of his career, as he said on SiriusXM NFL Radio last week.
But there is no question that not having a deal is disappointing while watching other quarterback peers get paid, like Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, who signed a four-year, $160 million extension over the weekend.
Prescott, who wants to get paid like everyone else, would never acknowledge that frustration. But running back Ezekiel Elliott, his best friend, couldn’t deny it.
“It’s definitely tough, but this is a business,” Elliott said. “We’ve all got to go through these things. I’ve got faith that it’s going to get worked out.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 6:18 PM.
