It's almost go time for the Dallas Cowboys' training camp.The team's charter plane arrives in Oxnard, California, on Tuesday, July 23 and all of their players will report to camp on Wednesday, July 24, before the team's first practice gets underway on Thursday, July 25.
However, Dallas has yet to resolve the issue that their 2023 Second-Team All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott, who led the NFL with 36 touchdowns last season, and their 2023 First-Team All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who led the league with 135 catches, are entering the final year of their contracts and without long-term deals. Lamb, who has held out of the Cowboys' entire offseason program, will reportedly begin training camp as a holdout as well despite racking up over $100,000 in fines for his prolonged absence.
Dallas COO and EVP Stephen Jones addressed the drawn out nature of those negotiations as well as where things stand on Friday, sticking to the company line that "those things take time."
"Well those things take time. And we're talking about deals here... when you're talking about CeeDee and Dak... somebody like a Micah [Parsons] coming up... you're talking about two players that aren't quarterbacks that feel like they ought to be a little bit like Jefferson, the top paid non-quarterbacks in the league," Jones said on The Athletic's "Scoop City" podcast on Friday. "And then of course you have Dak who's obviously his resume speaks for itself. I think he was second in MVP voting last year. He's just had an extraordinary career here in Dallas. Those things just take time when you're talking about the amount of money involved. And of course we're trying to a little bit play Houdini in how to keep all of these guys around Dak and keep these players we were fortunate enough to draft."
The Minnesota Vikings set the benchmark for what a top non-quarterback's value is this offseason, signing 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year wide receiver Justin Jefferson to a four-year, $140 million contract with $88.7 million fully guaranteed, but Jones pointed out that his roster, one that has won 12 games three years in a row, is in a different place than Minnesota's, a team that missed the postseason.
"When you start stacking them up like that it's a challenge," Jones said. "It's not that it's not doable, but you've certainly got to have some give and take if you want to do that. I know the Vikings there with Jefferson when they made that inordinate deal at the receiver spot... they don't have one player on their team other than Jefferson making over $20 million. Of course we've got a big one in Dak, we've got Diggs right there and then you've got Zack Martin, D-Law, so we've got a lot of guys making quite a bit of money. That's no excuses. We think we can get this done, we know we can get it done, but it just takes time."
While there have been rumors whether or not the Cowboys believe in Prescott long-term and their ability to extend all three of Prescott, Lamb and Parsons, Jones remains "optimistic" they can extend their Big Three and maintains that Jerry Jones, himself and the rest of the front office are pushing to "get the job done."
"The answer to that question is that we are optimistic that we can get these guys done. I know Dak, our goal is to get him done," Jones said. "He knows that. We're having conversations with his agent, with Dak personally both Jerry and myself. He knows our goal is to keep him here. He also understands the challenges, and you see what happens to teams when you do have these top-priced quarterbacks at some point; it's a challenge to keep everybody. Obviously, the Chiefs are an example of that, but they were able to survive not keeping Tyreek Hill and some other top players. I think they let one of the top corners [L'Jarius Sneed] in the league go after this season. You have to make some tough choices along the way, but we're optimistic that we can do that. We'll continue to grind away on that, and I know between fans and media, that's your job to ask 'when,' and 'can you,' and 'what happens if you don't,' but our eyes on the ball in terms of getting these things done and we're not thinking about what happens if you don't. We're trying to get the job done."
Teams that appreciate their franchise quarterback typically don't let them enter the final year of their deal without multi-year security, and despite nearly every key member of the Cowboys from Prescott and Lamb to head coach Mike McCarthy and his coaching staff all being on one-year deals, Jones said their contractual status doesn't mean they don't have faith in their team's nucleus.
"I think at the end of the day, a lot of people want to somewhat be critical of the organization, of Jerry and myself, of Coach McCarthy, of our team, and of course Dak being the quarterback gets the brunt of it, you know that chase, of our success in the playoffs," Jones said. "At the same time, you gotta certainly recognize that we've won 36 regular season games in three years, which, of course, we're playing 17 now. I think the Patriots may have done that doing it 16 games on a three-year run. We're having really great success in the regular season, and there's no question I understand the criticism from our fans; I understand the criticism from media. We all understand that in terms of not winning the big game in the playoffs, and we certainly gotta take the next step. I know we could go out there, and no one's assuming anything, and have another great regular season, and no one's gonna really give 'hey, they're gonna get it done this time' until they see it, and we understand that. We put ourselves in that position with our playoff winning percentage, and we do have to take that next step, but I certainly believe we can do it."
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 |
Sure, it would have been much better for Dallas to get these deals done before the NFL's new league year in early March to spread out Prescott's $55.1 million cap hit and Lamb's $17.99 million cap hit through extensions in order to open room to sign more reinforcements in free agency, but Jones finally admits that at this point in the offseason, they can "do" extensions for Prescott, Lamb and Parsons, who has two years remaining -- including his fully-guaranteed fifth-year option.
"We're just now to the point where we can do a CeeDee and a Micah and certainly want to see these things play out," Jones said. …"CeeDee had his breakout year this year in terms of really having a mega-year in terms of his numbers and his statistics. Of course, Micah just became eligible, and of course, we've done a deal with Dak. After that, we've done Diggs, and we got him done early, and unfortunately, when you're paying these quarterbacks the kind of money these teams are having to pay them, and it's not just a handful of them…I'm sure there's 12 to 16 guys that are making 40-plus million bucks. Then you're restricted to paying 5 or 6 guys, and believe me, it doesn't feel good to watch a Biadasz leave the organization. It doesn't feel good to watch these guys that we've drafted and developed and playing at a good level walk away, but unfortunately we can't do that. Now, the good news is we feel like we've done a good job of drafting again, and you get the [Tyler] Guyton's of the world, the [Cooper] Beebe's of the world, and [Marshawn] Kneeland, who's a pass rusher, you got to keep bringing these guys in because that's where you get the relief under the cap is having your young guys play, play at a high level and play right away."
For a full timeline on what has been said about Prescott's contract negotiations by the quarterback himself and owner and general manager Jerry Jones prior to Friday's comments, click here.
