The Dak Prescott dilemma: What are the Cowboys and the QB thinking? (2024)

As the Dallas Cowboys begin their first week of organized team activities, franchise quarterback Dak Prescott enters the final year of his contract. Many expected the Cowboys and Prescott to have come to an agreement on an extension before free agency started in March. Since that never happened, many are left wondering when, and even if, his next contract with the club will be finalized.

Fingers can be pointed in both directions when trying to figure out why Prescott isn’t signed beyond the 2024 season. Maybe they come to an agreement before or during training camp. Maybe Prescott plays out the final year and reaches free agency next March. To further break things down, here is some perspective from both sides:

What is Dak Prescott thinking?

A little over a month ago, Prescott spoke to a collection of media members at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. At the end of his five-minute session, Prescott was asked about being the quarterback in Dallas for the long haul.

“I’m not going to say that I fear being here or not,” Prescott said. “I don’t fear either situation, to be candid with you. I love this game and love to play and love to better myself, as a player, and my teammates around me. Right now, it’s with the Cowboys. It’s where I want to be and that’s where I am. That’s the focus. After the season, we’ll see where we’re at and if the future holds (being in Dallas). If not, we’ll go from there.”

After the Cowboys’ season came to a screeching half against the Green Bay Packers in January, there was widespread assumption that Prescott’s contract extension was not just a formality, but one that would be fulfilled in short order. After all, Prescott finished last season as the league’s runner-up for MVP and is a franchise quarterback. The big-stage performances haven’t always been up to standard but given how hard it is to find competent quarterback play in the NFL, Prescott has provided Dallas stability at the most important position.

With a monster cap hit looming and big free-agency decisions, many assumed Prescott’s extension would be figured out by the start of the new league year in March. Entering the final week of May, Prescott remains on the final year of his contract, carrying a hefty $55 million cap hit. During this span, in which Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones has said he’d “like to see more leaves fall,” Kirk Cousins moved teams and signed a big contract with the Atlanta Falcons while the Detroit Lions re-signed Jared Goff. Both quarterbacks are viewed as comparables for Prescott.

In this standoff between Prescott and the Cowboys, there is the prevailing thought: What is taking the Cowboys so long? Some dominos have already fallen while others (see Tua Tagovailoa) are approaching. The price for a franchise quarterback never moves in reverse, something the Cowboys should be keenly aware of given their first go-around with Prescott in 2021.

What isn’t considered as much is: What if Prescott is the one ready to move on?

This isn’t to say that Prescott is actively seeking to be the quarterback for another team. After all, the aura that comes with being the franchise quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is unique, and one that’s hard to move on from. Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Danny White, Troy Aikman and Tony Romo — none of these quarterbacks took a snap anywhere else after they established themselves in Dallas. Prescott has often spoken highly of the platform he’s been afforded as the starting quarterback with a star on his helmet. He appreciates being the Cowboys’ quarterback.

But Prescott has also spoken nonchalantly about the potential of an NFL future that isn’t in Dallas. As much as the Cowboys’ front office proclaims its desire to keep Prescott in place, playing elsewhere is not a foreign picture in Prescott’s head. With the no-trade clause in his contract and the Cowboys’ inability to franchise tag him in 2025 — not to mention the Cowboys not having a quarterback under contract beyond this season — Prescott holds all of the leverage in this negotiation.

So much that gets said publicly in these situations are negotiation tactics. It’s entirely possible that Prescott deeply wants to remain a Cowboy but has to act indifferent for the moment. But it’s also possible that Prescott and his agent have an eye on what’s around the corner. Head coach and de facto offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy is in the final year of his contract. Barring big postseason results, McCarthy could be on his way out. Prescott’s contract isn’t the only major contract hanging over the franchise. If the Cowboys extend CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons, their ability to put a better team around Prescott will likely be further hampered.

Prescott has embraced the spotlight that comes with being the Cowboys’ franchise quarterback but there are parts of it that he probably wouldn’t mind living without. The extracurriculars that surround the organization, invited from the very top, can be a lot. Prescott hasn’t lived up to standard in the biggest moments but perhaps he feels there’s a better situation elsewhere that can help him break through. Prescott will be 31 years old this season, his ninth in the NFL. Surely, Prescott and his agent are aware of a weak quarterback class looming next spring in free agency and the draft.

Prescott has said he wants to be in Dallas for the long haul, and there’s reason to believe that’s true. He’s also verbalized being at peace in a future outside of Dallas. That could be true, too. — Saad Yousuf

What are the Cowboys thinking?

When Jerry Jones says he’d “like to see more leaves fall” when responding to a question about Prescott and Lamb not having new contracts, part of that is the market. He’d like to see what other top quarterbacks and wide receivers are getting paid on new deals. But what if the “leaves” are also seeing more on the field?

Jones said at the NFL owners’ meetings two months ago that there are at least a handful of quarterbacks who have not won a Super Bowl who he believes will in the future. He included that Prescott is one of those who can. He would like Prescott to remain the Cowboys QB, but at the right price.

Through his first eight seasons in the NFL, Prescott has played well, but he’s been unable to get Dallas beyond the divisional round of the playoffs. Despite three consecutive 12-win regular seasons, the Cowboys have come up short twice against the San Francisco 49ers and last season to the Green Bay Packers when it mattered most. Prescott in those three losses: five touchdown passes and five interceptions. While those losses certainly aren’t all on the franchise quarterback, he has not played well enough in any of those games.

Perhaps Jones wants to see one more full season from Prescott to determine if he wants to pay a new deal that averages more than $50 million per season. Goff’s recently signed four-year, $212 million contract makes him the fifth quarterback averaging at least $50 million annually. Joe Burrow tops the market at $55 million per year, followed by Goff ($53 million), Justin Herbert ($52.5 million), Lamar Jackson ($52 million) and Jalen Hurts ($51 million). Whether it’s with the Cowboys or another team, Prescott is expected to join that group, and the deal could very well be one that tops all of them.

If Prescott is to play out the final year of his current four-year, $160 million contract, he could be doing so with a team not as talented as the previous season. The Cowboys are in the process of having their least-active offseason. The most notable free-agent signings have been linebacker Eric Kendricks and running back Ezekiel Elliott, both on one-year deals. Meanwhile, Dallas lost left tackle Tyron Smith, running back Tony Pollard, center Tyler Biadasz, defensive end Dorance Armstrong, defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, wide receiver Michael Gallup and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch.

Maybe Jones is just fine with that for 2024. Maybe he wants to see if Prescott can elevate the play of a lesser team, knowing that there won’t be much to spend in quality player acquisition after paying Prescott, Lamb and Parsons all at the top of the market.

There is great risk that comes with not getting Prescott signed this offseason. The result could be that Prescott hits the open market and the Cowboys could be left in a bidding war for the league’s No. 1 free agent. Lose Prescott and there’s no guarantee that another quality starting quarterback is right around the corner.

Jones was fortunate to begin his ownership of the Cowboys with Troy Aikman under center. He was fortunate to find consecutive franchise QBs in Tony Romo, an undrafted rookie free agent, and Prescott, a fourth-round pick. The odds of him finding another player on their level or better are just as good as spending several seasons with a revolving door like he had with Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Ryan Leaf, Clint Stoerner, Chad Hutchinson, Vinny Testaverde, Drew Henson and Drew Bledsoe.

When teams part ways with franchise quarterbacks, rarely does it work out for both parties. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning went on to win Super Bowls with their new teams. The Colts and Patriots haven’t come close to the success they had with those players. Looking back, the Commanders were probably better off sticking with Cousins. The one recent outlier has been the 2021 trade that sent Matthew Stafford to the Rams and Goff to the Lions. Stafford went on to win a Super Bowl in his first season in Los Angeles. Goff has been one of the key pieces in Detroit’s turnaround that saw the Lions reach the NFC Championship Game in January.

Stafford wasn’t the issue in Detroit. It just got to a point after 12 seasons where a separation was best for all involved. Could Jones potentially get to a point where he sees something similar for Prescott and the Cowboys?

At the NFL Scouting Combine in early March, Jones said he didn’t fear the possibility of this being Prescott’s final season in Dallas.

“Every player you got has some time when his contract is up,” Jones said. “You would walk around with the shakes if you feared it. You can’t, because they all come up. They all can get hurt. They all can lose some talent. So, all of that is not fear.

“It is my job to when somebody gets hurt or when their career is at the end or when you don’t get things negotiated, it’s my job to do something else. First of all, if you really want to get it done one way, then what do you do? You compromise and do more their way. But if your decision is that it is too far, it’ll cost me two guys over here, then you don’t do it. That’s every day in my life.

“All we need to do is see if we’re gonna try to do anything. If we’re not, then we’ll go another way.” —Jon Machota

(Top photos of Prescott: Ryan Kang and Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)