Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott paused his offseason workouts in the spring to get a massive leg tattoo that nearly stretched into a leg sleeve, and he was sedated for nearly half a day while it was inked.
Prescott revealed the image to his Dallas teammates and head coach Mike McCarthy earlier this year, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Prescott initially spent 10 hours getting the tattoo — reportedly featuring tributes to his brother who died by suicide, his mother who died, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Kobe Bryant, Dallas, his hometown in Louisiana and more — before returning for two more hours as Andres Ortega of Onder Link finished his work.
“People are gonna think it’s crazy and it is crazy,” Prescott told the outlet in a story published this week. “I get that. But I’m crazy. That’s my point is I am. I know I am. I’m not afraid of nothing.”
Prescott reportedly didn’t tell owner Jerry Jones about the operation, and the Cowboys owner was surprised when a Star-Telegram reporter mentioned the topic — “my comment is it explains to me why I don’t do tattoos,” he joked to the outlet.
“I certainly didn’t know he was under for 10 hours,” Jones told the outlet. “Just so you’re clear, I had no idea about tattoos. I better get up to date on it. I had no idea that required that kind of sedation of any tattoo. It further explains to me why I don’t have a tattoo.”
Wideout CeeDee Lamb and running back Tony Pollard have also reportedly worked with Ortega for a tattoo, and they’ll be key pieces alongside Prescott in the Cowboys’ offense this season — which begins Sunday night against the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
It’ll mark a pivotal campaign for Prescott, who enters the third year of a four-year, $160 million extension that he signed in 2021.
But between injuries and interception woes (an NFL-high 15 in just 12 games last year), Prescott’s margin for error has narrowed as the Cowboys’ franchise quarterback.
The 30-year-old said during training camp that he has embraced the negative criticism and has “a chip on my shoulder,” while Prescott added in an interview with Yahoo! Sports that the Dallas new-look offense — with McCarthy as play-caller after former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore left for the Chargers — has been “a world of difference.”
And perhaps the tattoo — along with everything it symbolizes to Prescott — will help provide the spark that stays ignited through a postseason run, something the Cowboys have been searching for since their last Super Bowl victory to end the 1995 season
”I was like ‘whoa, what the … happen to your leg’,” McCarthy said about Prescott’s tattoo, according to the outlet. “So he shows it to me. I’m like ‘Jesus Christ, how long did that take? You’ve been doing it all week. He said, no, I did it all at one time’. He showed me a video of it and like ‘Oh, my God’.”
Read more
