Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has been emphatic this offseason about wanting Dak Prescott, the 2023 NFL MVP runner-up, to be his quarterback for the foreseeable future.
He did say, "We want Dak Prescott. That's that," at his pre-draft press conference at the end of April.
However, he had six months to come to terms with his quarterback, who led the league with 36 touchdown passes last season, on a new deal, and here they are in training camp still lacking a contractual resolution.
Jones kicked off the first practice of Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California, on Thursday by expressing some confidence that he can get his quarterback, who became the first in Dallas history to lead the NFL outright in touchdown passes in a season (36 in 2023), re-signed on a new, long-term deal.
"I do not think that this will be his last year with the Cowboys, at all," Jones said at the Cowboys' introductory training camp press conference on Thursday.
Prescott's initial remarks when asked about Jones' comments at his own training camp press conference Thursday invoked former Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch.
"I'm just here so I don't get fined," Prescott joked on Thursday, via NFL Media. He then became serious and pragmatically expressed some deeper thoughts on the topic of his contract negotiations. "I say it's a two-way street. They have wants, I have wants. ... This is a business and obviously I want to be here. Talking about growing up ... this is where I became a man, but at the end of the day, it's a business."
After pausing for a moment -- perhaps to collect his thoughts and emotions -- and turning to quickly glance at the Cowboys PR staff present at his press conference, the quarterback placed some pressure on Jones and the Cowboys, pointing out that plenty of great quarterbacks that he grew up watching eventually played for other teams besides the ones they originally established a legacy with.
"You know, I'm going to say it: I want to be here, but you know when you look up all the great quarterbacks I've watched, they've played for other teams," Prescott said. "So my point in saying that is that that's not something to fear. That may be a reality for me one day. ... "Be where your feet are, make the most of it. Be confident in yourself, make the team better. I love my teammates. I love that locker room. I love everything about being out here in Oxnard and being a Dallas Cowboy. So that's what allows me to be free and focus."
Since Prescott, who turns 31 on July 29, saw his love of football develop in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, he could be thinking of how Indianapolis Colts legend Peyton Manning finished with the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots legend Tom Brady finished with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre spent his last years with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Bay Packers legend Aaron Rodgers ended up currently playing for the Jets.
It does make sense for Jones to strongly desire to ensure Prescott represents the team's stability at the game's most important position for the foreseeable future since he was one of the NFL's best in the first year of coach Mike McCarthy calling the Cowboys' offensive plays.
Dak Prescott 2023 season
| NFL QB RANK | ||
|---|---|---|
| Completion Pct | 69.5% | 2nd |
| Pass Yards | 4,516 | 3rd |
Pass Yards/Att | 7.7 | 6th |
Pass TD | 36 | 1st |
TD-INT | 36-9 | 2nd |
Passer Rating | 105.9 | 2nd |
| Expected Points Added/Play | 0.18 | 2nd |
However, Jones himself did leave room for the reality of Prescott and his front office not coming to terms on a new deal and him leaving for a new team next March since Prescott possesses both a no-franchise tag clause and a no-trade clause.
"In my life I've had a lot of things I wanted that I couldn't get because I couldn't afford it."
Plenty of Cowboys fans are now likely praying for the miracle that Jones gets a move on with a contract that had it been done in March, could've opened up more cap space for the rest of the roster for both this offseason and beyond. Now, Dallas' faithful simply hope Prescott can get signed before the quarterback contract market jumps again like it did with the signings of Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence (five years, $275 million -- $55 million average per year) and Detroit Lions' Jared Goff (four years, $212 million -- $53 million average per year).
"I know that I have had a lot of mistakes in these years," Jones said. "But the same guys making this decision that has the Cowboys and really got there by the skin of my teeth. It was a miracle that I was able to pull it off. A miracle. But the same imagination, the same risk-taking, the same taking risks but being pragmatic, being inconsistent, sometimes looking like you're a Mississippi riverboat gambler and sometime looking like you're trying to guard the national ball. Those inconstancies are how we got here. Now that is what you're seeing going on right now. And I don't know for sure if it's going to work. But I am giving it everything I've got."
Here is all of the messaging we have gotten this offseason, prior to today's latest comments, from both Jones and Prescott himself about how the quarterback's contract negotiations are progressing.
- March 1 -- "I'm definitely confident," Prescott said when asked about getting a deal done with the Cowboys. "Obviously, it helps the team. It's important for the (salary cap) numbers. I've heard Jerry say that. That is a process. Both sides understand that. Everything is great. It'll happen."
- April 23 -- "Who in the world would think that we're not working on it?" Jones said at his pre-draft press conference. "I work on it at two in the morning sometimes. What your actual question is why don't you have something done and negotiated and put in the drawer? We'd like to see some more leaves fall. We'd like to see some more action. .... You may give money to somebody that you shouldn't have given it to. ... To say that you're not working on it or going is not the right answer. The difference is the style. It's on your mind. It'd be madness not to know that the contracts are ahead. .... You got trouble with what the timing is around here because I'm not ready to go."
- April 23 -- "You're asking me if I worry about things going up. Not worry, but I probably have as good of feel as anybody living on this earth what the cap is going to be three years from now, four years from now, five years from now. I really do," Jones said. "We've got exceptional insight into where the cap is going to be."
- April 23 -- "I, first of all, respect how Dak handles his business, period, as much as any player or any person that I've been associated with. I think that we should realize that talks, quote "talks" ... is not a barometer, of whether you're close to a deal, at all," Jones said. "To be very candid, this is pro football. It has to do with the allocation of your resources, which happens to be cap space."
- April 23 -- "We want Dak Prescott. That's that," Jones added. "There's no question that Mike's (McCarthy) focus, not that he didn't have focus, but how [Prescott] improved last year. I give Mike a lot of credit for that. That improvement demonstrated to me there's more as far as ultimately winning what we're trying to do here. ... We think that there's room for growth. He is absolutely unsurpassed as what he is as an individual with his work ethic, what he brings with his leadership and everything about what you would think about as a quarterback. So he's got that. He's had a few hits, but everybody has that too ... This wouldn't even be my response if we were in a different place relative to the cap. ... That's our challenge and to make it work out. Dak as the quarterback of the Cowboys, I don't even have a blink on that one."
- May 22 -- "Business is business. I'll leave it where it gets handled," Prescott said at Cowboys OTAs. "Right now, it's about being my best for this team right now in this moment. OTAs is helping these guys out and just focused on that and I know my business will take care of itself. Been in it before, experienced (in talks with Jerry and Stephen Jones) and just controlling what I can right now."
- May 22 -- "I don't play for money," Prescott added. "Never have cared for it to be honest with you. Yeah. Would give it up just to play this game. So I allow that to the business people to say what it's worth what they're supposed to give a quarterback of my play. A person of my play, leader of my play. For me, it's about as I said, control what I can control and handle that part and the rest will take care of itself."
- June 5 -- "I don't mind it. I've been in this position before," Prescott said when asked about being in long-winded negotiations. "I'm a gambling man. Will gamble on myself and my guys. … Not actually guys,' Prescott said laughing. "I understand there's been a lot of shit with that. Not that way."
- July 9 -- "There's been conversations back and forth, but for the most part for me as y'all know, I let my agent (Todd France) do that, especially as we get right here into training camp," Prescott said. "Day 1 of training camp, my mind flips to obviously helping my team and just doing everything I can within the organization and on the football field to make sure that I'm my best and everyone around me is their best. The money and all that will take care of itself as it always has."
