After watching the season go down the drain last year following Dak Prescott’s injury, the last thing fans wanted to hear about was their quarterback going down with another one. But this one wasn’t that bad; it was just a shoulder strain.

With training camp just getting underway, there did not seem to be any reason for concern. The team and Prescott made it seem like something minor, making it seem like nothing for fans to worry about.

That is, until a Cowboys legend, Troy Aikman, commented on the injury: “The Cowboys are downplaying it, but I think when your franchise quarterback is missing the amount of time he’s missing, I tend to think it’s probably a little bit more significant than what they have led on.”

What Aikman does not appear to take into consideration is the fact that the Cowboys have time on their side at the moment. Since the injury occurred so early in camp, the Cowboys do not need Prescott to play for weeks. So, why not give the newly paid franchise quarterback all the time in the world to heal?

That is what the Texas Rangers recommended when Jerry Jones talked to them recently about how to treat injuries to throwing arms: “We talked about throwing, arm care, and arm recovery. They advised rather than work through a progression on healing but to go cold turkey to make sure the injury is repaired.”

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If the injury occurred during the regular season and Aikman said something similar, fans would have more reason to be concerned. But at this time of year, tidbits like Aikman accusing his former team of not being forthcoming about Prescott’s injury gain national attention.

So, then the obvious question pops up on message boards, blogs, and social media — how is Dak Prescott’s injured shoulder? Is he going to be okay?

Conveniently enough, not long after Aikman’s comments started making the rounds, the Cowboys had Prescott throw a little in practice. During Tuesday’s practice, Prescott made some throws to Amari Cooper, who recently came off the PUP list.

To be fair, the throws were not at game speed, and he did not make a lot of them. But the fact that he could go through the motions in no apparent pain speaks volumes. Does this mean we may see him take the field soon?

“We’ll see how his progression goes,” McCarthy said about Prescott playing. “He’s doing some things as far as throwing, and everything is on a rep count.”

McCarthy made it sound like the answer is ‘maybe,’ but fans know better. Jerry Jones would sooner hire a GM than risk his franchise quarterback in a preseason game.