With CeeDee Lamb and his new deal in the rearview mirror, the Dallas Cowboys‘ attention can be turned solely to Dak Prescott.
With Week 1 mere days away, Prescott and the Cowboys have been unable to agree on a new contract.
While the deal’s implications will be massive for the franchise’s future, it has become a massive distraction in the present.
With no deal in place, one NFL insider provided insight into what the hold-up might be.
The Latest Regarding Dak Prescott’s Potential New Deal
On the latest episode of the “Scoop City” podcast, hosted by The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the NFL insider gave a peek behind the curtain at what could be preventing this deal from getting done.
“The hold up at this point, from what I understand, is about the years the Dallas Cowboys are willing to commit to,” Russini said. “While it’s assumed that Dak is going to be paid at the top of the market — the Dallas Cowboys are aware of that. It’s … do they want to put themselves in a position, contractually, that will keep Dak in Dallas longer than two, three, four years?
“And that’s what Dak is looking for. He’s looking for a long-term commitment from Dallas. So the hold up here is really the belief from the Dallas Cowboys. This is a guy who’s won a lot of games. But is that enough? Winning’s not enough for Jerry Jones. We know this. They want to do more …
“They don’t want to just be the team that wins a lot of games. They want to be the team that can play in the Super Bowl.”
It’s a fascinating stance to take when you understand how the Cowboys’ front office operates. This franchise enjoys having long-term contractual control of its players, so it’s interesting that they would be standoffish about giving that to Prescott.
Do the Cowboys see a closing window that they don’t want to be tied to beyond Prescott’s prime? Or is this more about bargaining and the art of winning a deal?
In today’s day and age of NFL contracts, players typically want shorter deals so they can quickly cash in again. Does Prescott see this as his final chance to get paid and wants security while doing so?
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It’s an interesting situation with far more questions than answers. Its uniqueness helps explain why the contract negotiations have been drawn out as long as they have.
The two sides still have five days before Week 1 kicks off against the Browns, and with no real deadline set in place, this could go into the regular season if they so choose. However, a quicker resolution could potentially be mutually beneficial, and this is something worth monitoring over the next week.
A New Deal Would Be Beneficial for Both Prescott and Dallas
The idea that a team would want to lock up a top-10 quarterback coming off of an MVP-caliber season to a long-term deal shouldn’t be a foreign one.
However, at every turn, this has appeared to be more difficult than it should be. Dallas and Prescott, too, need to figure things out, as both stand to benefit from getting this done.
Beyond just the obvious, where we point out just how hard it is to find quality quarterback play in the NFL, Prescott has been a picture-perfect face of the franchise, a leader in every sense, and someone who has brought stability to a franchise following the end of Tony Romo’s era.
Even when you put aside the intangible leadership qualities and focus purely on the football field, the Cowboys are significantly better with Prescott in the fold.
Prescott has never had a losing season in a year he played the majority of the games. He is fresh off arguably the best year of his career, and in Year 2 of Mike McCarthy’s play-calling, there is belief he can be even better.
Prescott is the face of the franchise, and he has played at a high level for most, if not all, of his career. Dallas knows all too well what it’s like to be on the hunt for a quarterback and getting caught in that carousel. It isn’t very fun.
It’s a results-based industry, so I can understand why the lack of true playoff success is something to ponder, but there is something to be said about consistently having cracks at it that should make this a no-brainer.
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If Dallas were to move on from Prescott, the hope is to find a player who is as good as Prescott (a top-10 player at his position) and also have the added wrinkle of being timely and good enough to get the team over the hump. Even the assumption that Prescott is incapable of winning “the big one” feels more rooted in emotion than in fact.
Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl. Should the Dolphins have gotten rid of him and ignored his level of play? Steve Young eventually got the proverbial monkey off of his back, and the 49ers didn’t overreact beforehand. John Elway was 38 when he won his first title, while Peyton Manning was a month shy of 31.
Lamar Jackson is statistically worse than Prescott in conceivably every category in the playoffs, but no one is arguing he should be run out of Baltimore.
Even Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff’s perceptions changed when surrounded by all the resources needed to compete at the highest level.
The point is that the Cowboys have a high-end quarterback, and there is no sense in trying to find what you already have at home. Prescott is a quality NFL quarterback who has played football at an extremely high level for quite some time. Jones and Co. know this, and I sense this will get resolved eventually.
However, for the time being, this will continue to be scrutinized and overanalyzed as much of the Dallas Cowboys’ moves do.
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