Dak Prescott talks injury recovery, Zack Martin’s retirement at girls flag football event
The Dallas Cowboys celebrated the beginning of Women’s History Month by hosting a jersey reveal and media day for girls from 34 schools participating in their first high school girls’ flag football league.
As part of the event, the Cowboys held a news conference with NFL Vice President of Flag Football Stephanie Kwok, Cowboys Co-Owner & Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones and quarterback Dak Prescott.
The high schoolers in attendance were raucous when Prescott, a father of two daughters, was introduced at the news conference. The quarterback explained why supporting women’s flag football was important to him.
“I spoke about just being a girl dad, I want to champion that, champion everything that I can not only give my daughters but other girls the opportunities to do everything and anything in life,” said Prescott. “It’s about showing opportunity and giving equal ability and equal chance for these women to say, hey, we’re athletes, we can play and what I love about this flag football, and the game of football, is it’s all-inclusive, is that there’s something for everyone of every size, every shape, to be able to contribute and ultimately contribute to a team.”
Prescott gave an update on his recovery from his torn hamstring and while not giving a timeline on when he would be back to full strength he said he would be ready by season’s start.
“Not gonna put a timeline on it. I mean, I’ll be ready for the first game and when anything matters and very, very ready. But I’m feeling good. I’m doing more and more, last two weeks have been very huge and progressive for me, wouldn’t say I’m quite running full speed yet, but everything’s on the right track and I’m excited,” said Prescott.
He also spoke about the retirement of Zack Martin and what the offensive lineman meant to the Cowboys franchise.
Martin retired after playing 11 years in the NFL, all for the Cowboys, and making seven All-Pros, nine Pro Bowl and the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade team.
“Zack’s the best, hard to even fathom a locker room, a huddle without Zach Martin. He has been there since I’ve been there, and he’s been a warrior. You talk about a guy that doesn’t miss time, and if he is, you know it was bad. Ultimate leader leads by example, doesn’t have to say much, but when he does, you’re all ears and just another guy that you can’t replace. You just can’t replace him with one guy,” said Prescott. “It’s going to take myself, is going to take a bunch of other guys, and I’m not even talking about on the field. I’m just talking about the leadership and what he brings to the building. We’re going to have to step it up and fill that void. But he is loved, appreciated, look at the stat of the holding penalties and All-Pros, I think that speaks for itself. First-ballot guy, yeah, incredible career, sad that he’s hanging it up, but happy for him.”
The Cowboys’ journey with girls’ flag football started with a pilot program that involved Fort Worth ISD in 2022. In the past two years, girls’ flag football has exploded in Texas, with 54 DFW-area high schools competing a massive jump from the initial 15. Jones explained how Fort Worth ISD was crucial to the program’s success.
“Fort Worth ISD was such an incredible partner. They stepped up and said, ‘We want this, our girls deserve it, and we want to lean in and do whatever we can to make that happen,’ and we were able to support them and get that program up and running,” said Jones. “They were great examples for then Dallas to follow suit, and Arlington and the collective that is in the DFW metroplex, and that has really been important to have an example that actually works. So the pilot was successful, and then it inspired the rest of the Metroplex to jump on in.”
As of now, flag football is not a sanctioned sport by the UIL, but Jones says they are working with the organization and believe that it will be in the coming years.
This story was originally published March 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM.
