The Cowboys didn’t get Dak Prescott signed to a long-term deal before the July 15 deadline. Owner Jerry Jones and Prescott talked Wednesday for the first time since.
Both expressed optimism that Prescott will remain with the team beyond this season.
“Business is business, and once I’m in the locker room and part of what’s going on now, I don’t focus too much about the future,” Prescott said. “It’s more about today. So with that being said, I’m excited to be a Dallas Cowboy. I’ve been a fan of this organization. I’ve been a fan of this program for years. I love every bit of the opportunity and the platform that I get to be the quarterback here. I love this team. I’m excited about what we can do and accomplish this year. No frustration as far as that. Once again, I believe something will get done, and I also believe I’ll be a Dallas Cowboy for the rest of my career.”
Prescott added “there are reasons probably it didn’t get done from both sides.”
Prescott will make $31.4 million under the one-year franchise tender, which is almost $28 million more than the quarterback made in his first four seasons combined. The sides can revisit a long-term deal after the season, but it will cost the Cowboys $37.68 million to tag him in 2021 if they can’t get it done.
Jones cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty of the financial landscape for not getting a deal completed this year.
“I don’t even want to be glib or trite when I say that’s a part of professional sports is sitting down, talking about the money. That’s a part of that,” Jones said. “Dak is outstanding. He’s probably one of the top people that I’ve been around for his age and his cumulative experience. . . . We think he’s outstanding. We think he’s our quarterback of the future. We just couldn’t get together at this particular time. I think it’s easily worth nothing that a lot of people this year in the franchise mode didn’t get together. One of the biggest reasons is the backdrop of COVID. One of the biggest reasons is the economic issue. I’ve just spent weeks and weeks, a part of this rasp voice on the phone, talking with the NFL and the players association, working through the economic consequences and candidly, nobody knows what’s going to be there next year or next year or the next year. Frankly, we all know that what we were talking about in Dak’s case is the next year and the next year and the next year and the next year. So all of that came to bear, and this was just less than stable time to be talking about serious, serious -- generational if you will, to use Dak’s term -- dollars in an unknown period of time looking forward. That certainly was one of the issues.”