Insider shares huge Dak Prescott contract prediction

The Dallas Cowboys are about to enter quite the lame-duck season with both head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott set to be out of contract following the campaign.

NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated remains confident Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones will lock Prescott down via a deal at some point down the road.

"I just think in the end, these things get done," Breer said about Prescott's situation for a mailbag published Thursday. "Do the Dallas Cowboys have misgivings about jumping on the quarterback cost escalation train? Clearly. But the market has defined itself."

Specifically, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers recently reset the market for younger players at the position via massive extensions they received this summer. In June, Jacksonville Jaguars starter Trevor Lawrence inked a five-year contract extension worth up to $275M with $142M fully guaranteed at signing.

"It used to be everybody was jumping each other. …Lawrence got [$55M annually], which was the high-water mark that [Joe] Burrow set," Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones told Breer. "[Years ago], it didn’t matter if you were the best or you were [Patrick] Mahomes, you just leapfrogged the next guy. You’re not seeing that now. It’s kind of hit that ceiling."

While Prescott is responsible for a career 2-5 playoff record, he turned 31 years old in late July and was a finalist for the Most Valuable Player Award last season. Previous reports suggested his camp will be looking to land an extension worth $60M per season, and Breer noted on Thursday he feels there's "a real pathway to a deal getting done" involving Prescott and the Cowboys between now and Dallas' Week 1 game at the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 8.

"I’m not saying it absolutely will happen," Breer added. "But I’d feel better about it if I were a Cowboys fan than I did a month ago."

Unless Prescott falls on his face this fall, he'll likely become more expensive for any team if he stays in the final year of his contract through January 2025. The Cowboys can't trade or tag Prescott per the terms of his deal, so Jerry Jones will ultimately have to either pay his quarterback or hope a perceived upgrade somehow becomes available at a cheaper price between now and next March.