Getty Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott
Ron Rivera spent nine years as a player in the NFL, but he’s also spent the last 13 as a head coach, so when it comes to siding with players or with management, he is a bit torn. This week, in his new gig as an ESPN analyst, Rivera took a very pro-management stance and implored Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to accept a hometown discount to allow the team more flexibility to add talent around him.
Prescott and the Cowboys have yet to fully engage in contract talks, but Prescott is entering the final year of the four-year, $160 million contract he signed in Dallas in 2021. That heavily backloaded contract is slated to pay him a whopping $59.4 million in 2024. In a reworked new contract, the expectation would be that Prescott would accept less in Year 1 of the deal.
Prescott could make it much less, and allow the Cowboys to upgrade elsewhere.
“I think that would be really good for him and for the Cowboys,” Rivera said on NFL Live (H/T SI.com’s estimable Mike Fisher). “Not only do they have to improve in the running game but by doing that, you also have to improve on your offensive line. So, again, go ahead and do something friendly for the team, Dak, because it will give you an even better chance to be as good as you can be.”
Cowboys Need Offensive Upgrades
The Cowboys have plenty of needs, of course. They could use an upgrade at the No. 2 receiver spot, and they certainly need depth on the offensive line with the impending departure of star left tackle Tyron Smith. An upgrade at running back from Tony Pollard would help, too.
But the Cowboys can’t make those changes if Prescott chews up too much of the salary cap.
“To me, it’s about making sure you’re able to have the players around you,” said Rivera, who spent the last four seasons with the Commanders before he was fired this offseason. “You’ve got to have guys in front of you protecting you, and blocking. You’ve got to have playmakers out there. What better way to have a friendly—I’m not talking about bottom-basement bargains, I am talking about making a good decision, a good, sound decision that helps yourself but also helps your team.”
Appearing with Rivera in the segment was longtime NFL lineman Damien Woody, who decidedly does not advise Prescott to leave money on the table.
“Listen, I am a former player and those are, like, blasphemous words coming from a former player,” Woody said. “I don’t want to hear team-friendly, especially when we see all these guys getting released right now. So, listen, Dak Prescott has earned what he’s got in this situation and he’s got to decide whether it’s, ‘Hey, I want to go cut-throat,’ or give back to the team, a little something.”
Dak Prescott, 2025 Free Agent?
But, again, there have been no serious talks on Prescott’s contract yet, a bizarre situation for a team that so clearly needs to get him a new deal at a lower number than $59.4 million. That lends some credence to the rumor that NFL Network host Rich Eisen mentioned last week after the draft combine.
Eisen stated that word at the combine had been that the Cowboys would not re-do Prescott’s contract but would make him play out the final year and let him hit free agency next offseason.
The implication is that Prescott’s playoff failures could mean the Cowboys do not want him around anymore despite his continued regular-season success.
“According to people at the Combine, his definition of all in is to make Dak play out his walk year and not extend him, at all,” Eisen said on the “Rich Eisen Show.” “Just eat the cap hit. And the free agents they might go get aren’t the big names you might think because they won’t be able to afford them.”