Dallas Cowboys executives Jerry and Stephen Jones may be playing a football front office version of good cop, bad cop when it comes to negotiating quarterback Dak Prescott’s extension.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones on Tuesday affirmed the team’s intent to sign Prescott to an extension.
Prescott is entering the final year of his 4-year, $160 million contract he signed in 2021. His cap hit for next season is slated to be at around $59.4 million.
Dallas could conceivably lower that figure with some salary cap tinkering should Prescott sign an extension. Lowering his nearly $60 million cap hit would go a long way toward helping the team have more flexibility ahead of free agency.
During his Saturday media session at the NFL Combine, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked specifically about whether his team’s “all-in” approach to roster building hinges on getting a Prescott extension done. The 81-year-old billionaire stated that he believes the team can “absolutely” remain aggressive without a new QB deal in place.
“You can get in and get on the same page and see if you can come to an agreement. If you can’t, what we have in place works,” said Jones via Nick Harris of DallasCowboys.com. “And so obviously, if you do it one way, you’ll be working through some of the other areas on the team in a different way, but you can’t really plan on that until you see when you’re there.”
While Jones affirmed his desire to keep Prescott under center long term, the Cowboys owner added that he doesn’t “fear” the possibility of his star QB leaving after 2024.
However, Prescott’s deal and the Cowboys’ free agency plans may not be the only things on Jones’ mind of late. The Cowboys owner was recently ordered by a Dallas County judge to take a paternity test amid an ongoing legal battle with his alleged illegitimate daughter.
