Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been waiting for a new deal like someone stuck at the DMV all off-season, and the wait may not only continue into the 2024 season, but into 2025.
However, if it comes to that, another team will be the one making the offer.
Speaking on a June 12 edition of the “Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN’s Mike Greenberg proclaimed what would be the top story in the NFL next off-season.
“I don’t think the Dallas Cowboys are gonna get a deal done with Dak Prescott … He’s gonna be an unrestricted free agent and he’s gonna make a lot of money.”
Prescott is entering the final year of his deal signed back at the start of the 2020s. The Cowboys quarterback had originally played the 2020 season on a franchise tag but made sure it would be the last one he was subjected to with Dallas.
His current deal has a no-trade clause, meaning that he could approve or deny any number thrown his way. Jerry Jones and the quarterback haven’t reached an acceptable middle ground. As such, Prescott could wait his way into free agency.
If that happens, it would be the highest-profile quarterback to hit the market since Kirk Cousins clawed his way away from the Washington Redskins in 2018. However, this is a bit of a different situation as there was little clawing by Prescott.
Dak Prescott’s threat of taking Kirk Cousins-esque turn piles additional problems on Jerry Jones
While Cousins waited his way through multiple franchise tags, Prescott only needs to wrap his current lucrative deal. He will be free to leave once he gets through the 2024 season.
Cousins turned heads with his exit, offering the chance to end a team’s quarterback search immediately. As such, per Spotrac, Cousins saw a jump from a roughly $24 million contract in 2017 to an $84 million contract in 2018.
If Prescott were to receive a similar jump, he could see the size of his contract also triple with a competing marketplace.
However, a potential Dak Prescott departure is just one of the Cowboys’ roster issues. Assuming they lose their quarterback, Jones will have to double down on keeping CeeDee Lamb. Lamb, currently locked into a holdout, is also heading into the last year on his deal.
Jones has the option to use a franchise tag on the wide receiver, but doing so might not be a solution in this case. Lamb has demonstrated that he isn’t afraid to miss out on obligations as a negotiation tactic. As such, a franchise tag might keep him from testing free agency, but it might not get him back to work in 2025.
On top of Lamb, Micah Parsons is coming due as well. The pass rusher is under contract through 2025, but how Jones treats the wide receiver and quarterback could rub Parsons the wrong way, too.
Essentially, Jones needs to be careful.
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