Cowboys' Dak Prescott drops powerful knowledge on NFL's top tight ends with two-minute message
The more I learn about football, the more I find out I don't know, which is why I absolutely love hearing NFL stars discuss their positions in-depth and offer their thoughts.That's what Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott recently did at the famous yearly offseason event put together by George Kittle: Tight End University. Annually, NFL tight […]
The more I learn about football, the more I find out I don't know, which is why I absolutely love hearing NFL stars discuss their positions in-depth and offer their thoughts.
That's what Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott recently did at the famous yearly offseason event put together by George Kittle: Tight End University.
Annually, NFL tight ends, ranging from elite to young guys on the rise, get together for the event to refine their craft together, just like other position groups do around the league.
In 2024's edition, Prescott was invited as a quarterback and addressed participants with a message that lasted almost exactly two minutes but carried significant lessons for his fellow NFL players. That includes Jake Ferguson, who has quickly become a fan favorite. Every single word he said is in this post and I'll provide context here and there with it and bold some of the highlights, but mostly I wanted to get straight to his words without much interruption:
"Greg (Olsen) just hit it, the simple fact of it's understanding what I'm looking at and what I'm seeing. and true enough (Jake Ferguson) has done a good job at it and the reason I say this is: In man-to-man (coverage), none of you guys should ever be covered," Prescott said via a clip from The Athletic's Dave Lombardi on YouTube.
The Cowboys quarterback elaborated on this last point while emphasizing the importance of the pass-catching tight end in the NFL, which derives from the fact that it's difficult to match up against them.
"Man-to-man, you should know what your quarterback's thinking, where he's thinking about putting that ball, away from that defender because you're a mismatch," he added. "You're an advantage, right? You got the size bigger than any third level guy and you're usually faster than the second level (defender), I know those (linebackers) are getting faster but that's where the indication and that's where just understanding where I want to throw the ball and where I want you to be is huge."
Prescott touched on the importance of knowing what your particular offense wants to do as it varies from team to team, and used a comment Travis Kelce had made about a particular concept:
"Listening to (Travis Kelce) talk about the (Chiefs' sail concept) drove me crazy, honestly. Because in our offense I don't want him to have that option to throw out. When you come out of that sail, if I wanted to get it to you there, where would it be? It just would be on you now. But (Ferguson) knows that. He knows not to come out and ever slow down because that'll f–k up my timing. You come out and I see the defense that ball will be drilled on you in that hole so get your head around but don't necessarily to slow down your speed. So, in that same sense knowing where you are knowing if you're number one, if you're number two, if you're number three, talking about playing in the rhythm, in the melody. If you're number one right you got to be there at the time of the number one, we're throwing to spots more times than not on our first read. When you get to the second read, to the third read, that's when it's huge for your breaking points, your stair steps, that helps us indicate 'he's breaking there' to anticipate it."
Prescott went deeper on this latest point, explaining why an indicator such as a stair-step (a technique used on over routes to re-gain leverage by getting vertical on a defensive back to get him to commit before getting back to the horizontal route) is extremely important.
"You're not the fastest guys, we just said that if you're running against a safety or corner, how do I know to throw that ball? Unless you give me an indicator that guy's going to beat you to the spot so that's where that stair step (comes in) right in the deep 'over (route).'"
Lastly, Prescott concluded with a powerful message, explaining how important a tight end is to an offense in the NFL by claiming it's every quarterback's best friend:
"All those things matter to me right I'm watching the defense I'm watching the (defensive) back. I'm not asking you to be my eyes, however there are some offenses that are but you got to learn that, right? You got to grow to that, you got to get that freedom. First and foremost, it's learning your quarterback. I know as a tight end y'all got to offense every part of it I would say I challenge you to the run game, pass protection, all that the next step is truly knowing what your quarterback's thinking when he's throwing you the ball because you guys are quarterback's best friend. We got to throw the ball across the middle to take advantage of our matchups outside and if we're not on the same page as you, you don't have a shot. If you have a good tight end you got a chance to have a great team."
Man. I love hearing quarterbacks talk football. What a cool sport.
