Dallas Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones stood firm Tuesday on his offseason mantra of not getting into specifics about the team’s negotiations with quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb and edge rusher Micah Parsons on potential contract extensions.
Jones said there will be no reports or updates.
But Jones made it clear that the team wants to do deals with the team’s Big 3.
And Prescott remains at the top of the list in terms of importance because of a $59 million cap hit in the final year of a four-year, $160 million contract he signed in 2021.
The Cowboys are roughly $8-9 million over NFL’s 2024 salary cap of $255 million.
They must address Prescott’s deal with an adjustment or an extension to do other things they want to accomplish in the offseason.
The big question is when will a deal get done? For a Cowboys team heading into what is a make-or-break campaign for coach Mike McCarthy, who is in the final year of his contract, timing is everything.
“We’ve got ways to adjust his cap number for this year,” Jones said of Prescott. “Obviously between Dak and between Micah and CeeDee, the salary cap’s real for us with those three guys in a situation where we want to do deal with all three of them.”
A restructure would potentially create $21.86M of 2024 salary cap room by turning 32.79 million of his $34 million 2024 salary into a signing bonus and adding voidable years starting in 2026.
That comes with a backside poison pill of potentially losing their franchise quarterback via free agency in 2025. He has a no-trade clause in his contract. He also has a provision preventing Dallas from using the franchise tag.
If he leaves in free agency, the Cowboys would have a dead money charge of $58.32 million in 2025, not to mention no known path forward at quarterback.
The question is: Do the Cowboys want to an extension with Prescott, one that could approach $60 million annually by some estimations?
“Oh yes, absolutely,” Jones said.
He added that the Cowboys have not thought about life without Prescott.
“Our whole thing with Dak is him being a Cowboy,” Jones said. “That’s all that’s on our mind. Certainly don’t get into those type of thoughts.”
If the Cowboys are to sign Prescott to a contract extension and lower his cap figure, it would behoove them to do it before his $5 million roster bonus is due on March 17.
“You know, like I said, that’s just details. I mean, I don’t want to get into the details of that,” Jones said. “And we want to be certainly respectful of the negotiation. Certainly we have our thoughts and our views. But I’m sure Dak and his team have their thoughts and views and we’ll continue to see how we bring those together.”
Those conversations could continue in earnest this week at the NFL Scouting Combine.
And as with Prescott, any deals for Lamb and Parsons would be at the top of the market at $30 million and $34 million, respectively.
Getting all three done will be difficult.
“It’s always a challenge when you start to have a lot of players that you’re trying to pay top of the market,” Jones said. “It’s a challenge, but the cap has gone up tremendously. It’s just how many guys are trying to fit in there and it’s about players. Certainly, that quarterback position, it’s not unique to us. A lot of teams have it. I think when you project out probably through next year, there are probably going to be 16 quarterbacks making 40-plus million dollars. So it’s real. It’s good because you have [a quarterback] but it’s a challenge too in terms of the salary cap.”
