Cowboys’ Dak Prescott fires subtle message to Dallas amid contract extension saga

Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Dak Prescott subtly vented his frustration when speaking about not having a contract extension completed by this point of the offseason. The Cowboys finally reached a deal with CeeDee Lamb on August 26. Micah Parsons didn’t get an extension, but his fifth-year option was exercised.

This leaves Prescott and head coach Mike McCarthy as the odd men out, as both enter the regular season on expiring contracts. When asked what Prescott took from not having a deal done, the signal-caller was candid via Todd Archer of ESPN.

“I think it says a lot if it is or if it isn’t [done],” Prescott said. “But ‘however’ doesn’t really matter to me, to be honest with you.”

And because the deal isn’t completed?

“Just [shows] how people feel,” Prescott said.

The cat and mouse contract game between Jerry Jones, Dak Prescott

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Clearly, Prescott is speaking of how Jerry Jones feels, and the Cowboys general manager was asked what else he needs to see from Prescott, but he didn’t say much.

“You could easily say, ‘If you haven’t seen it by now, you haven’t seen it,’” Jones said. “I’m such a fan of Dak’s and appreciate all of the great things that we all know that is there. And I appreciate his work ethic more than anything out here. I can’t tell you how proud I am that we’ve got him this year to start this campaign.”

So proud that he doesn’t want to pay him for next year, though.

“When you look at a situation, you’ve also got to weigh, ‘OK, what are the consequences of the other side of the coin?’ And so Dak’s situation right now for me, from my mirror, has more to do with our situation than it does with the merits of Dak Prescott being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Prescott is in the final year of his contract. In March 2021, he signed a four-year, $160M contract extension. That deal now leaves Prescott as the 15th-highest paid quarterback in the NFL, between Matthew Stafford and Daniel Jones. To be fair, since 2022, Jones has one playoff win, the same number as Prescott. And in his career, the Cowboys QB has a 2-5 record.

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Prescott also addressed the uncertainty and whether this will be his last year with the Cowboys.

“You gotta love it. You gotta embrace it. That’s the challenge,” Prescott said. “We as the players and the coaches don’t have the full say in whether we’re here or not. It’s about us controlling what we can. It’s about sticking together. … Yeah, it’s now.”

The Cowboys will begin their 2024 regular season evaluation of Prescott on the road against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, September 8 at 4:25 p.m. EST.