The Dallas Cowboys enter the 2026 season with high ambitions and an offense that remains among the NFL’s most potent.

A rebuilt defense under new coordinator Christian Parker offers additional hope that the team can finally contend for a Super Bowl after three decades without reaching the title game. Yet one persistent question hangs over those expectations: the health of quarterback Dak Prescott.

Prescott has dealt with significant injuries on an alternating-year pattern in recent seasons. A severe ankle injury cost him 11 games in 2020. A thumb issue sidelined him for the first five games of 2022.

Two years later, a torn hamstring kept him out for nine contests. Those absences coincided with uneven team results, reinforcing how central his availability remains to Dallas’s success.

This offseason the concern centers on his right knee. Swelling and soreness first appeared in the spring and have lingered into training camp in Oxnard.

During minicamp more than seven weeks ago, coach Brian Schottenheimer acknowledged the issue, noting that Prescott would be limited in team drills while insisting it was nothing serious. The coaching staff planned to manage his workload carefully as camp approached.

Recent observations have kept the topic alive. Beat writer Nick Harris noted that Prescott has been wearing a leg sleeve during sessions, a detail that follows Schottenheimer’s earlier comments about knee soreness.

Although the quarterback has participated fully in offseason work and the team opened camp without any players on the physically unable to perform list, the continued presence of protective equipment and the duration of the discomfort have raised quiet questions.

Prescott himself has made the team’s goals clear. At a recent charity event he emphasized that Super Bowl contention is the only acceptable standard for the organization and its fans.

He described that mindset as essential for competitors at every level and expressed appreciation for the pressure that comes with it.

The Cowboys continue to describe Prescott’s situation as manageable and have stressed overall roster health. Still, the combination of his injury history and the prolonged nature of this particular soreness leaves room for caution as the preseason progresses.

For a franchise measuring itself against championship standards, the quarterback’s readiness remains the most important variable.