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The Dallas Cowboys will take the field in a matter of hours and its franchise quarterback won’t have a new deal, as was the plan.
According to multiple reports, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott is not expected to ink his long-discussed, potentially record-setting contract extension prior to the team’s 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff against the New York Giants in the 2019 regular season opener.
ESPN’s Ed Werder claims game-day discussions are “all dead for now,” while Werder’s coworker, NFL insider Adam Schefter, explains why Prescott isn’t pushing for his inevitable pact.
“Prescott has loss-of-value and disability insurance policies, as well as multiyear endorsement deals, that all together are valued at more than $50 million, league sources told ESPN,” Schefter wrote Sunday.
“The insurance policies protect the star quarterback if he has a career-threatening injury. The endorsement deals, worth more than what some starting NFL quarterbacks are making, are in place for years, according to sources.”
Schefter added that although Prescott would prefer a new contract, he “doesn’t feel the need” to press the matter this season. And neither do the Cowboys, who, assuming no movement and no Collective Bargaining Agreement extension, would have the option next offseason to slap the franchise and transition tags on free agents, including Prescott and cornerback Byron Jones.
This jibes with what Prescott himself revealed Thursday, that “obviously I want to see it done” but he isn’t willing to take extreme measures — like hiding out in Mexico — to secure his desired riches.
“To put a time frame on it, I think I’ve said this before, I’m not going to do that,” he said, via ESPN.com. “At this point my focus is all on the Giants and the Giants defense and what this team needs to do to win the game. And next week it will roll to the next opponent. I don’t want to blur my mind or distract myself any with thinking about those talks or thinking about what’s going on when I’ve got enough on my plate to handle. So I’m just focused on the Giants and I’ve got people to take care of [the contract].”
Prescott, a 2016 fourth-round pick, is set to make just $2.02 million in base salary for his walk year, with unrestricted free agency upcoming in 2020 — should he get that far.
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Discussions to Continue
Prescott won’t touch pen to paper on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean a new deal isn’t relatively imminent. The Dallas Morning News and WFAA both intimate that talks are ongoing, and failing to lock down the 26-year-old field general isn’t indicative of where the sides stand.
Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones is already on record as allowing talks to rage on through the regular season, an unconventional deviation from the norm.
“We’re open for business,” Jones said earlier this week, via Pro Football Talk. “I know sometimes the players don’t care to do that. But we can obviously juggle that and do that. We would be fine with doing that. It’s really up to the player and their representatives to determine what their deadlines are and their timelines. It doesn’t seem to bother us, and I don’t know that we’ve given those type of deadlines or timelines.”
Baseline for Prescott’s Extension
Dallas is likely cursing Los Angeles for recently handing QB Jared Goff a four-year, $134 million contract that includes a record-setting $110 million in guaranteed money. Cursing them, because Prescott’s agent, Todd France, can now turn around and demand equal pay to Goff — at a minimum.
Previous reports indicated that Prescott is seeking $40 million annually on his next deal, which would be an NFL record, dwarfing the $35 million that Seattle’s Russell Wilson is due for 2019. The Cowboys may balk at setting a new highwater mark after appeasing star running back Ezekiel Elliott in a similar fashion.
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL
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