For months, whenever the Dallas Cowboys’ front office has spoken about major internal business to handle, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons have been under the spotlight together. A week into training camp, there is a separation between the three situations.
Parsons appears content waiting to ink something in 2025. Lamb is adamant about getting something done immediately, and the groundwork has been set by Justin Jefferson in Minnesota.
With Prescott, there’s more nuance involved.
Prescott is entering the final year of a contract that gave him $40 million APY (average per year) but carries a much larger cap hit in 2024 (roughly $55 million) due to previous restructures. The Cowboys have said they want Prescott for the long term and Prescott has said he wants to be in Dallas for years to come. Both sides also have acknowledged a future in which they go separate ways. Prescott’s current deal comes with a no-trade clause and the Cowboys can’t tag him after the season. Prescott has leverage and can test the open market if he chooses that route.
That’s the basic framework of the situation, which has been the case since the offseason began. The temperature of the situation has fluctuated slightly over time but the essence remains the same.
Until this weekend.
Developments in Miami and Green Bay made things very interesting. Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love signing monster contract extensions for $53.1 million and $55 million APY, respectively, isn’t shocking, nor are they the only quarterback dominos to fall for the Cowboys-Prescott saga in 2024. In fact, looking at the list of quarterbacks by APY, four of the top five players signed their deals this offseason:
Jared Goff’s deal came together in May while Trevor Lawrence was signed last month. Tagovailoa and Love got their extensions over the past weekend, days before Prescott’s 31st birthday on Monday. There have been a lot of words floated into the ether by both sides.
On Thursday, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he does not think that this will be Prescott’s final year as a Cowboy. In that same news conference, Jones said he doesn’t always get what he wants. Later that day, Prescott reiterated his stance of wanting to be in Dallas but also acknowledged — after a moment of hesitation at the podium — that other great quarterbacks haven’t always played with one team. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said the team is having healthy discussions with Prescott’s agent, Todd France, and that the team extended Prescott another offer last week.
Dialogue isn’t futile, but actions speak louder than words.
Before the Tagovailoa and Love deals, perhaps the Cowboys could try to use Prescott’s shortcomings on the big stage to lower the price below Joe Burrow’s $55 million APY. Age and future potential could be seen as a differentiating factor between Prescott and Lawrence’s $55 million.
But now, Love, with his 18 regular-season starts and 1-1 postseason record, is getting $55 million? Tagovailoa is coming in just under that?
Dak Prescott is at peace with this perhaps being his final year with the Cowboys
The Cowboys have waited long enough to where $55 million has gone from a negotiating number to the starting point in discussions. That is now the basement, and if you’re Prescott’s camp, staring at a weak 2025 quarterback draft and limited options on the open market in free agency, why would you settle for the floor?
Stephen Jones can talk about Patrick Mahomes and his absurdly team-friendly deal all he wants, as he did recently on 96.7 FM The Ticket, and his points of how it impacts team-building may be valid. However one feels about Prescott’s stance for what he’s looking for on his next deal, using exceptions — which Mahomes is, in talent and in contract situation — as a negotiating tactic rarely works.
If there are things beyond the numbers keeping the two sides apart on an agreement — which can’t be ruled out given France got Prescott no-trade and no-tag clauses on his last deal — that may be worth discussing at the negotiating table. But when it comes to the numbers themselves, there isn’t much to talk about them in the aftermath of the Tagovailoa and Love extensions.
If the Cowboys truly want Prescott secured for the long haul, his APY will most likely settle north of $55 million.
Because the Cowboys have dragged major contract situations as much as they have in recent years, they’ve become an easy target to ridicule as the league passes them by in handing out deals to superstar players. That’s also a fair way to interpret the situation with Lamb, who has only gotten better in each of his four years in the league and whose contract terms have been fairly obvious even before Jefferson’s deal, but even more vivid now.
Prescott’s situation requires more reading between the lines. Could the Cowboys be so inept that they dearly want their franchise quarterback to re-sign but are unable to make it happen? It’s possible, but it’s also just as possible that the Cowboys are playing nice publicly in their words but have a much more rigid approach internally to what their expectations are for Prescott before handing out a massive extension.
When Jerry Jones spoke Saturday, he answered a question on Prescott’s contract situation as it relates to Love’s fresh extension.
“I get in trouble every time I make comparisons,” Jones said. “I do get in trouble. Of course, we saw a head-to-head match with Green Bay last year. We’ve all got that burned in our saddle. I’m anxious for Dak to get his chance to show he’s the best with a Cowboys star on him.”
Translation: Let’s see Dak handle his business in January like Love did against him, and maybe he’ll get the contract he wants like Love did.