FRISCO, Texas — On the Coach2Coach podcast with Jason Garrett, Dak Prescott named Donovan McNabb, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Michael Vick as the quarterbacks he watched throw growing up, and called Vick’s left-handed release beautiful. Garrett coached the Dallas Cowboys quarterback in Dallas from 2016 through 2019.
Prescott grew up in Haughton, Louisiana, throwing with his brother Jace in the street, and did not use the laces until a high school coach made him.
“That’s a great question. Big McNabb fan. Just his game, obviously, man,” Prescott said. “Peyton Manning, fan. Drew Brees. And I’d say Vick, obviously being a different kind of motion, more on the whip side, but it was beautiful. The left-hand release, I thought it was nice.”
Donovan McNabb, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, And Michael Vick
Donovan McNabb went to Philadelphia second overall in 1999 and played 13 seasons. Two drafts later, Michael Vick went first overall to Atlanta. Vick threw left-handed, and he is the head coach at Norfolk State now.
Peyton Manning retired after the 2015 season with two Super Bowl rings. Drew Brees played 20 seasons, and he was the first quarterback Tom House ever trained.
In those years Prescott was throwing with Jace and paying attention to what people said a quarterback’s arm should look like.
“At the time, always being a fan of the game, being a fan of quarterbacks,” Prescott said. “And I remember growing up though, over the top was very big. People wanted you to throw over the top, so I just remember really emphasizing anytime I was throwing with Jace or throwing around is trying to make sure I threw over the top so as I got later in my life it wouldn’t be, ‘Oh, you can’t throw over the top, you can’t play.'”
Drew Brees, Tom Brady, And The 3DQB Decision
Brees came up again when Garrett asked how the motion had changed over the years. After the 2017 season, Prescott went to 3DQB and Tom House, the same program Brees had trained under, and he said two names from around the league pushed him there.
“There was no mechanic teaching until I got to my after my second year of just really trying to get the competitive edge and looking around the league and seeing all these guys, Drew Brees, knowing that Tom Brady, these guys have been to see quarterback trainers,” Prescott said, “and me wanting to stay in the league, be competitive: let me go see what this is that these guys are doing.”
Prescott throws right-handed. Dallas drafted him in the fourth round in 2016, and he has been to four Pro Bowls since, the most recent in 2025.
The Cowboys open next Sunday at the New York Giants. Kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
