Now, Dallas’ goal for the rest of the 2025 season and beyond is to carry on Kneeland’s legacy and spirit in everything they do. That started with being there for one another, which certainly helped when the group got back together on Monday after spending four days apart during the bye when the tragedy occurred.

“Don’t know what I would do, I don’t know what these guys would do without having a team like this,” Prescott said. “I can tell you my hardest days were those few days before we got to come in and be together. The ways that I deal with grief is just being in the presence of others who understand what that grief feels like, and in this case it was just your teammates.”

Prescott, who is viewed as one of the leaders in the locker room, did not have a moment where he’s stepped in front of the team and addressed them. Instead, he’s showed his leadership by simply being present for his teammates, something he’s learned is important.

“I think the important reason for me why is I know in my experiences with dealing with loss and pass, you should grieve your own way. I don’t for one second want to tell somebody how they should grieve…” Prescott said.

“I just know the best thing that’s helped me out is just when people were just there for me. When they were there for me in silence just feeling their presence, feeling their love and showing me what it looks like, how to move from one day to the next doing better and trying to carry on a legacy.”

Unfortunately, Prescott has had to deal with tragic losses to loved ones before in is life. He admitted he is not an expert in grief, but does have a knack for moving forward and using the pain of loss as motivation.

“The Cowboys did a great job of bringing in professionals, people who get paid to deal with these moments,” Prescott said. “Obviously, me and [Solomon Thomas] have been through this. I’ll be the first to say that I may be the champion of speaking up, but I’m not necessarily the champion of dealing with grief. I’m a champion of moving forward and past it and using it as your source of strength.”

On Thursday, the Cowboys returned to the practice field for the first time since Kneeland’s passing. The loud music still rang through and each coach still went around to every player to say hello during the stretching period. While it’s difficult to return to the normalcy of an NFL schedule after such a tragedy, it did serve as a healing measure for Prescott, and a way to honor Kneeland as well.

“It was great,” Prescott said. “Schotty alluded to that, he said it earlier in the week [that] some guys are going to get out the field and it’s going to hurt, and some guys are going to get out there and it’s going to be the best medicine for them.”

“Having dealt with loss, that is the best medicine for me. Getting back out there, handing the ball off and sprinting an extra 10 yards and making sure I’m doing it hard. Marshawn went through my mind a few times in practice today, and I just countered that with running harder after a play or trying to do something to better this team and to show that.”