Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones is convinced Dak Prescott is the team’s quarterback of the present and the future. So is Mike McCarthy.
Of course, if McCarthy wasn’t, he probably wouldn’t be the Cowboys’ new coach.
Jones jokingly was asked Friday afternoon on 103.3 ESPN Radio about calling Tom Brady, who is scheduled to become a free agent in the offseason: “Not even a thought. We’re so, so all in on Dak. [McCarthy] is so all in on Dak. He’s so convicted that [Dak’s] the guy that can help us win championships. He’s putting together a great staff to support him.”
McCarthy has coached Joe Montana, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in his career.
He called Prescott “a great one here to work with.”
For what it was worth, Prescott threw for a career-high 4,902 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2019. It also was the first time in his four seasons the Cowboys didn’t finish with a winning record, going 8-8.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to work with Dak,” McCarthy said during his introductory press conference. “I think what he’s done so far is very impressive. I think like a lot of us in the league, you watch people from afar. But when you have a chance to watch a player live, and I can recall his rookie year when we played him there in Green Bay, I’ve always been impressed with him.”
Prescott, 26, is scheduled to become a free agent in March. The Cowboys surely will use the franchise tag on Prescott if they can’t get a long-term deal done before then.
Jones revealed on 1310 The Ticket that Dallas got “real, real, real close” to getting a deal before the season.
“We’ve got to land the plane and get his deal done,” Jones said on the radio, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “That’s on Jerry and myself. He’s our future. I think he stepped up and improved in all ways last year. . . . We went over this in depth with coach McCarthy, and he thinks [Prescott] is a top-end, top-caliber quarterback. We can do everything we want to do and more with Dak. [McCarthy] can’t wait to spend time with him. We’ve got to land the plane on his contract and get him signed up sooner than later. He deserves everything he has coming.
“We got real, real, real close there to start the season and just didn’t get it finished up. He’s so laser-focused on wanting to win football games and compete that he really didn’t want the distraction once we didn’t get it done in that first week of going back and forth with the contract. We’ve just got to move forward. He’s our quarterback of the future. I’ll take him any time when you go to war against those guys. We’re fortunate to have him.”