The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott continue to be in a standoff over a potential contract extension. Prescott is heading into the final season of a four-year, $160 million deal.
Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton offered predictions for the upcoming NFL contracts that will “reset” the market at their respective positions. Moton projects that Prescott will sign a five-year, $285 million new contract.
This includes $210 million in guaranteed money. The deal would give Prescott an average annual salary of $57 million.
It is worth noting that the NFL analyst did not predict whether Prescott will ink this deal with the Cowboys, or find another team in 2025 NFL free agency. Prescott holds full control over his future thanks to no-trade and no-franchise tag clauses in his current contract.
“Without a robust ground attack, the Cowboys will likely need Prescott to carry the offense for extended stretches, and he can do that,” Moton wrote in a July 16, 2024, story titled, “Projecting Contracts for NFL Players Who Could Reset Major Position Markets in 2025.”
“… Regardless of how the Cowboys finish the season, Prescott’s passing numbers could have teams line up for him if he hits the open market next offseason. If not the Cowboys, a quarterback-needy club will be willing to pay a high bill for the three-time Pro Bowl signal-caller’s services.”
Dak Prescott on Contract Status With Cowboys: ‘There’s Been Conversations’
Both sides have publicly indicated their desire to get a deal done, yet nothing has happened with training camp starting in a matter of days. Prescott has declined to elaborate on the progress of negotiations.
“Yeah, there’s been conversations back and forth but for the most part, for me as y’all know, I’m going let my agent do that, especially as we get right here into training camp,” Prescott explained to reporters on July 9.
“Day one of training camp, my mind flips to obviously helping my team and just doing everything I can within the organization and on the football field to make sure that I am my best and everyone around me is their best. And the money and all that will take care of itself, as it always has.”
Cowboys VP Stephen Jones on Keeping the Team’s Stars: ‘You Certainly Gotta Have Some Give & Take’
The challenge for Dallas is quarterbacks like Jared Goff are only driving up the price of future quarterback deals with their new extensions. Spotrac projects Prescott’s market value to be a slightly shorter and less lucrative contract than the Bleacher Report prediction.
Prescott’s value is a four-year, $212 million deal with an average annual salary of $53 million, per Spotrac. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones opened up on the difficulty of attempting to keep stars like Prescott, Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb. All three players are heading towards lucrative contract extensions.
“We’re trying to a little bit play Houdini in how to keep all these guys around Dak,” Jones said in a July 19 interview on The Athletic’s “Scoop City” podcast. “And keep these players we were fortunate enough to draft.
“And when you start stacking them up like that, it’s a challenge. It’s not that it’s not doable, but you certainly gotta have some give and take if you want to do that.”