Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott made a big effort to try to bring a top free agent to the team, but fell short after his own organization decided not to offer a deal.
In a new episode of his “The Adam Schefter Podcast,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter revealed that Prescott and teammate CeeDee Lamb made a significant recruiting pitch to free agent wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Ultimately, Kupp never got an offer from the Cowboys, as the team decided his asking price was too high.
“Last Thursday, the Cowboys reached out about Cooper Kupp, and they were interested,” Schefter said. “Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, the way I understand it, were on the phone with Cooper Kupp, talking to him about the idea of coming to Dallas. It was floated out there. Then the Cowboys heard the numbers, and they were numbers the Cowboys weren’t going to get to.”
#Cowboys Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb tried recruiting Cooper Kupp to Dallas.
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) March 18, 2025
When the price got too high, it was a no go.
(🎥: @ AdamSchefter podcast) pic.twitter.com/Y7BpMhfoGt
Reports prior to Kupp’s signing suggested the wide receiver was looking for $15 million annually. That turned out to be precisely what he got from the Seattle Seahawks. Clearly, the Cowboys were unwilling to go anywhere near that.
Dallas’ stance is somewhat understandable. The team has plenty of needs, but wide receiver is not one of their most glaring ones. Kupp may have helped the Cowboys, and they were clearly interested in him, but that $15 million could probably be spent somewhere that would help the team more.
Prescott might be the one most disappointed by the failed pursuit of Kupp. While the Cowboys have added some players on offense, they have largely been second-tier free agents largely meant to replace other players the team has lost. The offense does not really look any better than it did at the end of the 2024 season, though getting Prescott and Lamb healthy should be beneficial.
It has been a relatively quiet free agent period for the Cowboys, with players making more noise on the way out than anything else. Dallas’ unwillingness to spend big, justified or not, is a big part of why that has been the case.
