Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday, owner and general manager Jerry Jones confirmed that Prescott will undergo surgery to repair his partial hamstring avulsion in New York on Wednesday.
Prescott flew to New York on Monday to see a specialist, knowing all along that surgery would be the most likely outcome. After Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Prescott said he wanted to make sure this wasn’t an issue that would affect him in the future.
“It’s a more common injury in hockey and you have doctors that are very familiar with how to fix it,” Jones said. “And his prognosis is wonderful. It just means we won’t have him the rest of the year.”
There was a strong possibility that Prescott would not have been able to return this year even without surgery. Multiple sources said he would need six to eight weeks to recover before he could return to the field. The Cowboys are 3-6 with eight games remaining in the regular season.
With surgery, Prescott expects a three-month recovery period.
He suffered the injury in the Cowboys’ Nov. 3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in a race. Television cameras caught Prescott in pain after he made a wobbly pass toward the sideline and his final pass fell incomplete on a screen pass that could have been a potential touchdown.
This is the second time in the last five seasons that Prescott has not been able to finish the season due to injury. In 2020, he suffered a dislocation and compound fracture of his right ankle in the fifth game of the season.
Prescott, 31, will finish this season with 1,978 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. In September, Prescott signed a four-year, $240 million extension with the Cowboys that made him the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history.
This will be the fourth surgery he has undergone since 2020. He missed five games in 2022 due to a fracture in his right thumb and had surgery on his left shoulder after that season.
The Cowboys will place Prescott on injured reserve, creating a roster spot, but signed Will Grier to the practice squad to have three quarterbacks available. Cooper Rush will make his second straight start in Monday’s game against the Houston Texans, backed up by Trey Lance.
Grier was with the Cowboys in 2021-22 before his release prior to the 2023 season. He had most recently been on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad.
