COWBOYS TALKING TO QB DAK PRESCOTT ON NEW EXTENSION, WR CEEDEE LAMB A HOLDOUT AT TRAINING CAMP
The Dallas Cowboys are working on an extension for quarterback Dak Prescott ahead of what’s going to be a long summer for the team. Dallas has three superstar players eligible for a contract extension, including outside linebacker Micah Parsons and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and have to realistically sort out at least two of the three situations before the season gets underway in September.
The Cowboys first order of business has to be coming to terms on an extension with franchise quarterback Dak Prescott, who will cost the team up to $40 million in dead money in 2025 if he signs elsewhere in free agency in March. Dallas also runs the risk of paying more in the future the longer they wait as the quarterback market resets with every extension across the league. Amongst the next quarterbacks up for new deals are Packers’ Jordan Love and Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa.
“I say it’s a two-way street,” said Prescott about his contract situation on Thursday. “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.”
Prescott emphasized he wanted to remain in Dallas but was open to continuing his career elsewhere if it came to it. “I want to be here,” said the eight-year veteran. “But when you look up all the great quarterbacks I’ve watched, they’ve played for other teams. So, my point in saying that is that that’s not something to fear. That may be a reality for me one day. It may not be my decision.”
“So, the freedom that I have is be where your feet are, make the most of it. Be confident in yourself, make your 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.”
Dallas also needs to come to terms with CeeDee Lamb, who broke the Cowboys receiving yards and receptions record last season. Lamb is officially holding out and hasn’t reported to training camp as he and the team try to work out a long-term deal. The fifth-year wide receiver reportedly aims at being the highest paid non-quarterback in the league and would therefore reset the wide receiver market, which was just shaken up last month when the Minnesota Vikings paid All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, however, didn’t appear fazed by Lamb’s absence at training camp. “Probably because of the way we ended the season last year, I’m more about winning the award for the best way to end the season than I am winning the award for showing up at camp with my house in order,” said Jones. “I’m more worried about ending the season than I am a fast start.”
“This time last year… was it Martin that wasn’t here last year? Pretty big deal, all buttoned up, contract and all, he wasn’t here. Has that ever happened? Of course it does. Look all over the league, it happens all over the league. So, I don’t flare when it’s happening to us. I’m aware of it, you must give me that. I’m aware that we want to get these guys to camp. Business as usual, as far as I’m concerned… I don’t get bent out of shape over the fact that somebody is not here or here, at all.”
Lamb is due $17.99 million on his fifth-year option in 2024 and isn’t expected to report until a new deal gets done. With three huge extensions coming up, the Cowboys are still bearing the weight of the extension and raise for cornerback Trevon Diggs and offensive lineman Zack Martin that the team completed last offseason. Dallas signed Diggs to a five-year, $97 million deal and revised Martin’s remaining two years on his contract.
“At the end of the day, if we had these three guys done, it’d be somebody else, I assure you,” said Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones. “They’re kind of waiting in line and seeing when it’s their turn… We have a very unique situation. We have a quarterback who played at the top of his game last year, second [in] MVP voting, who can leave. And then we have two players who can’t leave here for three years.”
“Theoretically if we didn’t sign either one of them I guess we couldn’t franchise one three years from now, but we could sign one of them and both of them, rightfully so, believe they should be the highest paid non-quarterback in the league. Totally respect that. So, [it’s a] very difficult situations that we’re trying to work through with them… It just takes time. We’re having great conversations with the representatives in terms of Ceedee and Dak. Obviously Micah is a year removed from where Ceedee is today.”
Parsons is eligible for a contract this offseason after his third year in the league. He, however, remains under contract for two more years after Dallas picked up his fifth-year option in April.
“You look at a guy like [Justin Jefferson], they [Minnesota] are not paying a quarterback, they’re not paying anybody on their roster at this point. So, it’s a lot easier for them to stretch a little more,” said Stephen Jones. “We’re just trying to work through, reasonably with Ceedee, reasonably with Dak, what we can do to make it work from an economic standpoint.”
Cowboys owner Jones again elaborated on his highly controversial “all-in” phrase, which was understood to mean Dallas intended to be aggressive all offseason in free agency, the NFL draft, and undrafted free agency in the push for their first Super Bowl since 1995. Despite losing running back Tony Pollard and cornerback Stephon Gilmore in free agency, the Cowboys barely signed any new players and have now failed to extend the contracts of some of their best in house talent.
“I’m all in, I’m all in,” said Jones on Thursday. “Sometimes being all in means you remove the mutts 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. We’re all in, we’re all in. It’s all right there.”
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
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