The Cowboys have a franchise quarterback. That apparently isn’t keeping them from considering the possibility of adding a different one.
According to Mike Fisher of SI.com, the Cowboys are “intrigued” by Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud.
They may be intrigued by Stroud, but they remain committed to Dak Prescott. He’s entering the third year of a four-year deal that was negotiated at a time when he had the Cowboys over a barrel.
For 2023, Prescott makes $31 million but, thanks to past payments, he has a cap number of $49.13 million. Next year, the cap charge increases to $52.13 million.
Given the structure of the deal, Prescott will become a free agent in 2025, absent an extension.
If the Cowboys could get Stroud, maybe they’d keep Prescott for 2023 and then decide whether to trade him in 2024 or keep him for the last season of his deal. But the Cowboys would need to move up to get Stroud, given that they currently have the 26th pick in the 2023 draft.
There’s also a chance that the Cowboys are leaking the notion that they’re intrigued by Stroud in order to get Prescott to be reasonable in connection with any contract negotiations that may happen this offseason. If so, Prescott and his representatives likely see through that ruse.
Our guess is that it’s nothing. And even if it’s something, there’s nothing the Cowboys can really do about it.