Dallas Cowboys News & Rumors

On the eve of their season opener, it remains to be seen if the Cowboys will reach agreement on a Dak Prescott extension. Team and player are negotiating a deal to continue their relationship beyond the 2024 campaign.

Recent updates on the situation have noted progress at the bargaining table, with an agreement reportedly being reached with respect to the length of a new contract. Value and guarantee structure will be key points of contention as in any high-profile negotiation, and Sunday represents an artificial deadline for an extension to be in place. In the latest development on this story, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports there is a “small chance” the Cowboys and Prescott will get a deal over the finish line in time.

While a final agreement is not in place, DLLS’s Clarence Hill Jr. confirms the sides are still negotiating at this point with a very small window of time remaining. Owner Jerry Jones said last week a deal does not need to be signed by the start of the regular season, although teams generally prefer to get contract work done in time for Week 1. Prescott is currently slated to carry a cap hit of over $55MM in 2024, a figure which could be lowered on a long-term pact. The 31-year-old will leave Dallas with a dead money charge of more than $40MM if he departs as a free agent next spring.

Both Prescott and Jones have made clear their desire to avoid that, although the three-time Pro Bowler has also noted the multitude of longtime starting quarterbacks who have played for multiple teams during their careers. Prescott appeared to be open to negotiations continuing into the season, but he has since clarified he is not the one primarily responsible for whether or not that happens. Given the efforts made to reach an eleventh-hour agreement, it is clear all parties involved are interested in achieving clarity in advance of the season starting.

CeeDee Lamb inked a four-year extension averaging $34MM per season this summer, and edge rusher Micah Parsons will be in line for a deal putting him at or near the top of his position’s market during the 2025 offseason. Prescott could very well move to the top of the quarterback pecking order on his next deal, either on another Dallas extension or a contract sending him to a new team in March. The latter scenario being eliminated is still possible with mere hours remaining until the Cowboys’ season starts.

SEPTEMBER 6: Stephen Jones confirmed on Friday (via team reporter Nick Harris) talks continue on the Prescott front. The team remains hopeful an agreement can be reached prior to Sunday, and attention will no doubt be focused on any movement in negotiations in the immediate future.

SEPTEMBER 5: CeeDee Lamb‘s extension is in place, and Micah Parsons may well need to wait until next offseason to finalize one of his own. The Cowboys still have the matter of a Dak Prescott deal to attend to in the days leading up to their season opener, however.

Negotiations on an extension have taken place throughout the summer, and efforts to reach an agreement continue before Week 1. During a recent Scoop City episode, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported contract length is an issue between the parties (audio link). The financial element of a new Prescott accord is still expected to top the quarterback market, but Dallas could be hesitant about making another long-term commitment (at least, in terms of guaranteed money) in the 31-year-old. One year remains on the four-year, $160MM pact he signed in 2021.

However, DLLS’s Clarence Hill Jr. writes team and player are in fact in agreement on contract length at this point. He adds that progress has been made recently and as a result a deal is “closer than it has been” at previous times in the offseason. Owner Jerry Jones said last week an extension does not need to be in place in time for Week 1, but Hill describes Sunday as Prescott’s “arbitrary line of demarcation,” suggesting talks could be paused after that time if no deal is reached. ESPN’s Dan Graziano adds it would not come as a surprise for this situation to be resolved in the coming days, even if it resulted in Prescott falling short of the $60MM AAV mark he has been connected to.

Prescott has joined Jones in making numerous public comments on this situation, one which will see him carry a cap hit of over $55MM in 2024 as things stand (along with a charge of more than $40MM next year if he were to depart). Last year’s MVP runner-up has repeatedly hinted at a willingness to keep his options open, citing the volume of high-profile quarterbacks who have played for multiple teams in their careers. He and Jones have, on the other hand, made clear their preference to continue their long-running relationship in 2025 and beyond.

Lamb’s deal carries an AAV of $34MM, the second-highest figure for receivers. Whenever Parsons’ deal is in place, it will no doubt make him at least one of the league’s highest-paid edge rushers. Those commitments will make a new Prescott investment difficult to manage from a cap standpoint, but no clear successor is in place under center if he is allowed to leave on the open market next spring. Playoff success has been elusive in the Prescott era, something Jones remains acutely aware of in advance of head coach Mike McCarthy‘s lame-duck season.

“I don’t know that there’s any more urgency but I have tried to look at places that we are complacent or ways not to be complacent,” Jones said (via a separate Hill piece). “I’m looking for ways to make sure they can’t say that I’ve got some kind of structure that breeds complacency. It can be contracts. It can be conversations. It can be player decisions… I didn’t make many changes. But within the realm of not making changes, totally changing people out, I tried to turn up the heat on myself and everybody involved. And I think that’s what’s being discussed.”

A short window of time still remains for Prescott and the Cowboys to finalize an agreement. It will be interesting to see if talks continue into the regular season if needed, but if the parties are settled on many elements of an extension the immediate future could breed further traction and an end to the uncertainty surrounding Dallas’ quarterback direction.

Dak Prescott had previously said he would not set a deadline on a Cowboys extension. While Jerry Jones subsequently offered that the team expected to have Prescott on the 2025 roster, the owner’s timeline may have rankled his longtime quarterback.

Jones said the team was unlikely to have a Dak deal done by Week 1, going so far as to say the team does not need to complete one by that point. It is rather bold for Jones, given the leverage Prescott possesses, to remain confident Prescott will be the team’s 2025 starter when the Cowboys can only keep him off the market via an extension. The franchise tag, based on Prescott effectively winning the sides’ first negotiation, has long been off the table.

When asked about Jones’ comments, Prescott said (via The Athletic’s Jon Machota) he “stopped listening to things [Jones] says to the media a long time ago. It doesn’t really hold weight with me.” Though, Prescott did seem to take issue with part of Jones’ assessment. When asked if he would like a deal by Week 1, Prescott replied (via the Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins), “I think it says a lot if it is or if it isn’t.”

To be clear, Prescott continued his refrain of staying out of negotiations and insisting he is indifferent on whether a deal comes to pass before next Sunday’s opener in Cleveland. But talks appear unlikely to produce any resolution at this point. Negotiations have continued throughout the summer, ESPN’s Todd Archer confirms. Those efforts do not have the parties on the verge of an agreement, he adds.

Interestingly, Prescott noted (via Archer) that the matter of whether or not talks continue into the regular season is up to Jones and agent Todd France to decide, not him. Earlier this month, the 2023 MVP runner-up noted he is on board with extension negotiations taking place during the fall, although his role in any talks which occur at that point will no doubt be limited with the season taking place. Waiting until the spring would add further pressure with a free agent departure becoming a distinct possibility.

“When you look at a situation, you’ve also got to weigh, ‘OK, what are the consequences of the other side of the coin?'” Jones said when addressing the Prescott case. “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.”

Even with wideout CeeDee Lamb‘s deal now on the books, two key questions remain for Dallas from a financial standpoint. Prescott and edge rusher Micah Parsons are in contention to top their respective markets on their next contracts, and affording both (in addition to Lamb’s $34MM AAV) will be challenging. Since Parsons has two years left on his rookie deal, his situation is on track to remain unsettled until next offseason. For Prescott, meanwhile, plenty of progress will still need to be made — before or after Week 1 — for an agreement to emerge.

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.