The Dallas Cowboys can't escape the contract drama they've gotten themselves into by allowing Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb to enter training camp under contract years (the latter remains a holdout).
Not even during the team's opening press conference, which ran for 50 minutes with head coach Mike McCarthy fielding only three actual football questions. Instead, reporters' focus was on the Cowboys' financial decision-making with a little over a month left to go for kickoff.
A lot was said, some of it meaningless, some if very telling, including Jerry Jones' expectations for Dak Prescott's future being in Dallas, but one particular quote stood out.
Some have interpreted as a "slip-up" from Jones, revealing that they indeed do not plan on extending Prescott before the season. However, it's important that fans note with the sides still negotiating, anything can mean nothing. Jones even told reporters after the presser that he tries to "stir it up" to remain relevant. Believing all that you hear from him while a huge negotiation is taking place isn't the right approach.
Nevertheless, the quote is important and should be broken down:
"Sometimes being all-in means you narrow, you remove the months out here that are in the future and you narrow it down to where all we're talking about is right now and the next playoff season and that's it for everybody," Jones told reporters . "We're all in. It's all right there. Dak's got his year, contract, let's focus right here, we've all got a lot on the line for that playoff game. A lot of it."
Jones' comments sure could be interpreted as an owner intrigued at the possibility of entering a playoff game with a head coach, quarterback, and several other key players motivated by the prospect of "earning" another contract.
However, this premise implies a significant miscalculation as it pertains to Dak Prescott: The Cowboys second-team All-Pro quarterback doesn't quite have a lot - if anything - on the line himself.
The Cowboys, who keep claiming they want Dak to stay beyond 2024 while suggesting they might not be able to afford it, are risking much, much more if they allow Prescott to start the season with no new deal in place.
On one corner, you'd have a team with no set plan at quarterback losing Prescott in exchange of nothing in 2025. For the first time since Tony Romo, the Cowboys would be in quarterback limbo.
On the other side, Prescott would be hitting free agency with teams lining up to potentially make him the first-ever $60 million per year quarterback in the league.
When Jerry says "we all have a lot on the line," what exactly is it that Prescott has at risk? The comfort of living in Texas and avoiding the need to move from one city to another? Sponsorship opportunities that come with wearing the Star? All of these likely pale in comparison with the financial opportunity that hitting free agency in 2025 represents.
Whether in Dallas or elsewhere, Prescott's big payday is coming, something he clearly understands and is willing to publicly say.
"I want to be here but when you look up, all the great quarterbacks I've watched, they've played for other teams," Prescott candidly told reporters on Thursday. "So my point in saying that is that that's not something to fear. "That might be a reality for me one day, it may not be my decision."
The elephant in the room is what exactly is the deadline to get a deal done? The Cowboys can act like they're open to letting Prescott playing out his deal and working out a deal before he becomes a free agent in March of 2025. But if a deal is not in place by this year's kickoff, how can they persuade the quarterback to not even taste free agency?
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