TAD CARPER HOLLERED at a reporter who was unaware of the rules of order inside a Dallas Cowboys postgame news conference: "Excuse me! Hold on, hold up! I'll call on you," he implored.
"Yeah, we go around," quarterback Dak Prescott said, a grin growing across his face as he awaited the next question from the media following a Week 6 road loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Minutes later, when Prescott stepped away from his postgame media session, he joked with reporters about the tight ship run by Carper, the Cowboys' senior vice president of communications.
For most who witnessed, it could have been just another exchange between an omnipresent public relations official and a player -- except to know the relationship between Carper and Prescott is to know it extends beyond ordinary.
"He's a hidden best friend. He's my 'No' guy. He takes the stress and pressure away from me," Prescott said. "Being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, or any big organization, your image is so important. What you say and how you say it is important. ... [He] makes it easy for me. I'm thankful for that guy and our relationship."
The role of NFL public relations officials is multifaceted. They conduct and advise on media opportunities, both locally and nationally. They discuss current events, not only those occurring in the locker room and across the league, but also those in the national news media. They schedule routine news conferences and must be ready at any moment for breaking news.
Sometimes, the amount of time spent in close proximity and discussing every facet of life can lead to deeper relationships between a PR official and a player.
"It's bigger than football," Carper, 63, told ESPN in early November of his relationship with the 32-year-old Prescott. "And especially when you go through a life-crisis moment together."
About 15 months earlier, Prescott sent Carper an early-morning message while at training camp in Oxnard, California.
Prescott invited Carper to stop by a cancer screening, which had a few remaining spots available, that then-head coach Mike McCarthy had set up as part of the annual physicals for Cowboys assistant coaches. Carper never imagined the invitation from Prescott would change his life.
"It's 7 a.m. one morning, and what else am I doing? I said, 'Sure, that'd be great. Thanks,'" Carper recalled. "I walked in, got tested. Super simple. Walked out and never thought about it again.
"Never thought about it again."
CANCER SCREENING IS personal for Prescott.
In 2013, during his redshirt sophomore season at Mississippi State, Prescott's mother, Peggy, died from Stage 4 colon cancer. She was 52.
Following her death, Prescott felt inspired to give back to the community. In 2017, he founded Faith. Fight. Finish. The foundation emphasizes cancer research, mental health and suicide prevention (Prescott's brother, Jace, died by suicide in 2020), working with law enforcement and communities, and provides assistance for people facing life-changing hardships.
It was at Prescott's foundation gala in the spring of 2024 that McCarthy, who was hired as the Dallas coach in 2020, learned more about early cancer screening and thought to ask Prescott about including the screening in the assistant coaches' annual physicals.
"Mike McCarthy, he was a huge part in this," Prescott said. "And if anything, it was his idea."
"Dak and I were talking a few days after the event and I said I'd really like to get connected with your [cancer] screening people," said McCarthy, who also had a loved one die from cancer. "And he was like, 'Done.'"
"Understanding what I've been through with losing my mom to cancer and understanding how important early screening is, it was a no-brainer," Prescott said.
Prescott's foundation funded the August 2024 trip for health care providers from the Ochsner Peggy Prescott Community Health Center in Louisiana to travel to Oxnard to perform the screenings ahead of training camp.
They drew blood for biotechnology company GRAIL's Galleri test, which screens for 50 different kinds of cancer and can identify the location.
Two weeks after he was screened, Carper, sitting in his office at the Cowboys' headquarters in Dallas, received an unexpected phone call.
"[The call] said, 'You got a positive result for head or neck cancer and we need to get you screened and scanned immediately,'" Carper said. "The rest of the day after that call was a bit surreal."
Everything in Carper's world slowed down. He had been feeling fine. He had no symptoms.
"Would never have gotten [screened]," Carper said.
Things unfolded in slow motion as he made arrangements to get a CT scan two days later.
The scan confirmed a tumor in his throat.
PRESCOTT WAS INFORMED that the training camp screening returned a positive result.
But he didn't know for whom.
"You get everyone tested and you're just hoping that was the only day about it," Prescott said. "The realization doesn't hit until you actually get a positive test back."
Days later, following a production call with the broadcast team for the Cowboys' Week 2 home opener, Carper pulled Prescott aside.
"He got up to walk out. I said, 'Hey, just I have something for you, but it's important before you go back to the locker room,'" Carper recalled. "'The test that you arranged, well, that's me. I came back positive.'"
Prescott was the first person Carper told.
The two hugged.
"I think you just saved my life," he told Prescott.
Following the blood test and CT scan, Carper scheduled a biopsy. Only then did he inform his wife, Ann, who would need to provide transportation after the biopsy.
He waited to tell her, along with his children, to save them from what he considered unnecessary worry.
The biopsy confirmed Stage 2 throat cancer. Carper underwent surgery on Oct. 15, 2024, during the Cowboys' bye week, to remove the tumor. He missed a Week 8 game in San Francisco against the 49ers, in recovery. He then underwent two months of radiation.
"The crazy part about it is Tad, not being a coach, that wasn't the initial party that was being tested. And -- just being good -- very good friends, and him always taking care of me, I said, 'Why not get Tad testing?' And sure enough, he was the one that -- that showed up positive," Prescott said.
"Thank God he was there for the blood test," McCarthy said.
CARPER, IN HIS third season with the Cowboys after climbing the ranks within the Cleveland Cavaliers over 22 seasons to eventually serve as their executive VP and chief communications officer, is convinced his move to Dallas became something close to a divine intervention.
When the opportunity to join the Dallas franchise arose in the spring of 2022, Carper, who had never worked in football, felt compelled to take it, given the Cowboys' stature as arguably the most visible organization in professional sports.
Fast-forward three years. Carper is in full remission, and doctors tell him his risk of the cancer returning is low.
"My doctors told me if it was two months later, we'd be having a much different conversation and result," Carper said. "God's plan for me to come to Texas. God's plan for me to work for the Cowboys with Dak Prescott leading to that moment. And that's what happened.
"There's a lot of elements involved in getting to that moment, and being in that place, and having that opportunity."
Carper's mission now is to encourage others to get screened for cancer when they're feeling their best. He even wrote a letter to congressional leaders to support a bill that would allow Medicare to cover multi-cancer early-detection blood tests after FDA approval.
Carper has received emails and notes from strangers and friends who have felt compelled to seek early cancer screening after learning about his story.
Initially, Carper was hesitant to share his journey with people beyond his personal circle, but he realized it would be somewhat hypocritical of him to shy away from it.
"The Dallas Cowboys live in the spotlight and that lens is extremely bright," Carper said. "I've spent the majority of my professional career encouraging other people to share their story, explain about where they're coming from. ... So [I] decided to embrace that, and knew it was the right thing to do."