The Dallas Cowboys have made it clear they intend on signing quarterback Dak Prescott to a long-term contract extension, but it appears the two sides aren’t close to getting a deal done.
Team executive vice president Stephen Jones said on Monday in an appearance on ESPN’s 103.3 JaM Session that the deal must be “team friendly” and hinted there is a ton of work to be done before any contract is signed.
Though, Jones says Prescott “deserves to be paid fairly.”
“He certainly deserves to be paid fairly,” Jones said per SportsDay. “He’s a fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State, as we all know. He’s never made a lot of money, per se, with his contract. Certainly deserves to be paid and be paid fairly.”
Jones also said that he’d like to have things worked out before the season begins: “I mean, that’s what we’d like to do,” Jones said. “You don’t get to control those things.”
As for the “team friendly” aspect to this, Jones put a positive spin on it by making it about building a championship team.
“There’s two sides to this,” Jones said. “We’ve really never just gotten into the weeds in terms with Dak himself in terms of what his preference is. I know he’s focused on winning and really getting as many players as he can out there working so we can have a great team next year.”
All of that makes perfect sense. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that paying quarterbacks record amounts of money doesn’t equate to winning titles.
On top of that, it’s clear that Dallas is in a bit of a pickle with the salary cap. According to Over The Cap, the Cowboys are just $10 million under the cap right now, though their figure for the 2020 season is much, much bigger.
Still, Prescott and his representatives won’t just fold for a deal that doesn’t pay him like a top quarterback in this league. In the end, we expect the Cowboys and Prescott to agree to a deal that pays him around $28 million per year.
Whether that’s “team friendly” or not remains to be seen.