By the time Dak Prescott takes the field in 2025, he’ll be the longest-tenured Cowboy on the roster, the face of the franchise, and the owner of one of the richest quarterback deals in NFL history. But behind the accolades and the spotlight is a man shaped more by grief than glory. Prescott lost his mother to cancer in 2013, a wound that never fully closed. And in 2020, that grief deepened when his older brother, Jace, died by suicide. Jace had carried the emotional weight of their mother’s illness. Dak, in the depths of his own battles with anxiety and depression, was left stunned and hollow. “It showed me how vulnerable we have to be as humans,” Prescott said. “You have to share these things.”

However, Prescott didn’t retreat; he responded. He spoke publicly, powerfully, at a time when vulnerability from a franchise quarterback was rare, almost radical. “People’s lives matter,” he said. “It’s okay to ask for help.” That message, stripped of football’s usual bravado, struck a nerve. In Dallas, where toughness is gospel, Dak offered a different script. One about strength not in silence. But in openness. His words were not for the headlines… or the cover stories. They were for the hurting, the overlooked, the ones like Jace who couldn’t find space to breathe. Prescott’s grief became his platform, and his resolve to destigmatize mental health became part of his identity.

So, it’s obvious to understand that this season, ‘The Mission’ continues. Prescott has teamed up with defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, who lost his sister to suicide in 2018. Their foundations, Prescott’s Faith, Fight, Finish and Thomas’s The Defensive Line, are now working in tandem, bringing mental health resources to communities that too often get left behind. Together, they’re speaking in classrooms, locker rooms, and boardrooms, where mental health still hides behind stigma. For Dak, this is a calling. Jace’s story didn’t end in silence. It lives on in every conversation Dak is leading.

Speaking to DallasCowboys.com, Prescott reflected how the tragedy has fueled his advocacy. Now teamed up with Thomas, Prescott sees their shared experience as a call to action. “For us to push this message and both to be Cowboys, understanding the platform that we have to push this message out there to the world is important, because we have to stop this epidemic,” he said.

So, Prescott’s message is clear: silence costs lives. “People’s lives matter,” he said. “In dark times and adversity and anxiety drive moments, depression, sometimes that temporary thought you think is the solution and it’s not.” For him, normalizing help-seeking behavior is part of the job now. “It’s about making sure people understand that their life matters and that it’s okay to ask for help.”

But, more importantly, Dak is showing us how that fight isn’t just on Sundays. It’s in everyday moments, in conversations, in extending a hand to someone who might be losing their grip. And it’s not about one person. Everyone associated with the person, every member of the family, carries the pain deep in their hearts. The only things left are questions to the inner self and the lingering thoughts that I could have saved him.

Dak Prescott knows the way to end the mental health epidemic

Soon after his brother’s suicide in 2020, Dak Prescott opened up about the pain of losing Jace. It wasn’t just a family tragedy. It was a personal awakening. Jace, who had cared for their mother during her fight with colon cancer, never showed the full weight of what he carried. Dak has admitted he didn’t know how deep his brother’s struggle ran. “We can’t see those battles unless we show them to each other,” he said. That 5-year-old message resonates deeply even today.

We all know someone fighting in silence. And Dak is urging us to stop waiting for the right moment, because that moment might come too late. That’s why his message echoed loudly even then, “Our adversity is always gonna be too much for ourselves, but never too much for a community,” he said. That’s not just a quote, it’s a way. Collective effort can heal any pain.

What makes Dak’s words powerful isn’t just the pain behind them, it’s the purpose. He’s trying to create a world where no one feels like they have to suffer alone. He wants to build a culture where vulnerability is strength and mental health is treated with the same urgency as physical health. “We have to share those things,” he said. And by doing so himself, he’s leading the way, one interview, one locker room conversation, one community message at a time. For Cowboys fans, it’s a reminder that leadership goes far beyond the huddle.

So, as the 2025 season kicks off and the lights shine bright on AT&T Stadium, Dak Prescott’s message remains just as important as any game-winning drive. Check your people and be present. Be kind. Dak’s not asking for applause, he’s asking us to step up for our loved ones!