By Geoff Schwartz
(WARNING: This story contains some graphic imagery.)
We love the NFL, but it often doesn’t love us back. Injuries are part of the game, but that doesn’t make them any easier to accept.
On Sunday afternoon, I hated football for awhile after watching Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott break his ankle in the third quarter of Dallas' 37-34 victory over the Giants.
As Prescott was tackled on a scramble up the field, his right leg was trapped under a defensive player's body. Prescott's right ankle was dislocated, and he suffered a compound fracture that required immediate surgery to clean the open wound.
Watching Prescott get hurt hit me harder than most injuries. It brought back painful memories.
There’s much to cover in this space, including the awkward conversation we must have about Prescott's contract situation. But first, a bit on my personal injury history.
The X-ray above shows the plate in Geoff Schwartz's fibula following an injury similar to Dak Prescott's, plus the screws going across his ankle to secure the bones together.
I had six surgeries during my eight seasons in the NFL – both hips, lower abdomen (sports hernia) and my right ankle three times. I had a seventh major injury, a right dislocated big toe that caused me to miss nearly three months.
The scar on Schwartz's fibula is visible in this image (above) from the first time the cast was removed from his lower leg.
I was the first starter in NFL history to be placed on injured reserve twice in a season. What a way to make history!
So, I've been through all the emotions that Dak is having right now. I’ve done it. But when I was injured, I wasn’t the beloved starting quarterback of "America's Team" who went through two years of contract negotiations, only to end up playing 2020 under the franchise tag.
There’s a 100 percent injury rate in the NFL. It’s accepted by all. However, no one plays the game believing they will get hurt. We all believe we are invincible, and this is the right attitude to have. You can’t play football scared, nervous and anxious about getting hurt. When you play with that trepidation, you will play with less confidence, move slower and eventually get injured.
That is how players manage, knowing an injury is always around the corner.
People often ask me, "Aren’t injuries just soul crushing? What are the emotions?"
We are conditioned as football players to compartmentalize injuries, whether the injury is to you or a teammate. The whole "next-man-up" mantra is real. When we get hurt, we convince ourselves it’s "easy" to overcome. In the moment, there’s emotion, especially if the injury is severe, as we saw with Prescott shedding tears Sunday.
And then we stop feeling pity. We plan a path for rehab and recovery. We use the motivation of playing again to push us through the rehab -- just look at the amazing story of Alex Smith, who returned from a gruesome leg injury to play for the first time in two years Sunday.
However, the rehabilitation process is a mental grind no one is ever prepared for. Rehab is easily worse than the injury. It’s endless. Every day. Some days or weeks, it feels like you’ve made no progress, and it's incredibly frustrating.
And sometimes, you do everything possible and your body doesn’t bounce back, which is just soul crushing.
Even though a player might get emotional when he's injured, the team rarely does. That mentality is conditioned in practice. College and NFL teams use multiple practice fields. When a player is hurt during 11-on-11 drills on one field, within 30 seconds of the injury, the head coach will yell, "MOVE THE DRILL TO FIELD TWO." No time for concern about your teammate who just got injured. No time for emotions. Move a field over, and the game continues.
It always continues.
Despite all that, Dak Prescott’s injury felt different than most. There was an outpouring of public emotion, both in the stadium and on social media. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones looked visibility upset, while his son, Stephen, was seen consoling a crying woman in his arms. Cowboys players were distraught as they gathered around the injury cart to wish their captain well. Current and former players – and athletes from all sports – sent well wishes on Twitter.
But what broke me was seeing Jason Garrett, Prescott's former coach who is now the Giants offensive coordinator, walk over to check on the QB. It’s clear that Dak is beloved by everyone in the Cowboys organization, his teammates and his former coach.
And while the NFL world was emotional because Prescott is so loved, those emotions were heightened because of the fifth-year pro's contract situation. Prescott and the team negotiated off and on for two years, trying to reach a contract extension. They were close to a deal, but Prescott wanted four years and the club wanted five.
No one budged, and I understand both arguments.
The Cowboys didn’t appear to be 100 percent in on Dak, otherwise they’d have gotten him under contract even if it meant letting him reach free agency a year earlier. When a team absolutely loves its QB, they make it work. Dak and his representatives looked around the NFL, determined he was worth a five-year deal and stuck with their assessment. Neither side is wrong.
The Cowboys put the franchise tag on Prescott, who signed the tag and came to work. He was willing to wait until next offseason to get that lucrative second contract. And now, the one thing has happened that could make that decision look like the wrong call – a horrific injury that makes all of us hate football.
I do not believe Prescott will second-guess his decision to not take the long-term security. Neither should you. People should be paid what they believe they are worth. Yes, the argument can be made that you’re only worth what someone will pay you, but that someone was only a single team that owned his rights. He’d get whatever he wanted on the open market.
On the bright side, Dak is young, and he should be fine. He will get paid. He’s too talented to not be a franchise quarterback for someone. Does he play next season on a one-year deal? Possibly. But like Teddy Bridgewater, whose injury was much more severe than Prescott's, a QB can work back to his peak and get that money.
