Getty Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones speaks to CEO Stephen Jones before an NFL game.
The Dallas Cowboys are rolling into the 2023 season with some key changes, but there are still major contract decisions that the team has to make.
Players like wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and defensive end will get huge new deals in the future, it’s just a matter of when. The contract decision that just got more pressing for Dallas is with quarterback Dak Prescott.
The Philadelphia Eagles handed QB Jalen Hurts a giant five-year, $255 million contract this week, leading many Cowboys fans to look toward the Dallas front office. NFL.com’s Jane Slater believes that Hurts’ deal will directly affect any extension negotiations.
“I checked in with some of my sources,” Slater said. “And they say that a conversation with Todd France, [Prescott]’s agent, hasn’t taken place.”
Slater also added that the starting point for any contract negotiation will likely start at “$45 to 50 million” a year, which would be a significant bump to Prescott’s current $40 million a year deal.
Cowboys Committed to Prescott
If a four-year, $160 million contract wasn’t a sign of Dallas’ faith in Dak, then the restructure he and the Cowboys recently agreed to was the team nixing any possibility of a QB change this offseason.
Prescott is a two-time Pro Bowler who put together his best statistical season recently in 2021, but the lack of postseason success leads to doubt from fans and analysts like Orlovsky. The external voices may not like Prescott, but the Cowboys’ front office sure does.
Dallas owner Jerry Jones even compared him to Tom Brady, and it’s clear the Cowboys expect Prescott to step up accordingly.
“I’ve really felt for quite a while that Dak has the ability,” Jones said according to NFL.com. “I don’t want to dare do this to Dak or me or anybody, but I think just as (Tom) Brady became, in my mind, better and better and more impactful on how [his team] won as he got into his career, I think Dak really has those qualities. I think he can get better.”
Orlovsky Says Prescott ‘Needs Help’
In a recent episode of Get Up, former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky said that Dallas should consider a QB change after the 2023 season depending on his play. A big part of his argument is due to where he believes Prescott stands amongst fellow NFL QBs.
Essentially, Orlovsky believes there are passers who can succeed regardless of staff and those who are good, but need the right people around. The ex-Lions QB believes Prescott does need McCarthy and the Cowboys staff to be at their best.
“For context, there are six or seven quarterbacks in the NFL that aren’t really dependent on what’s around them, coach, play calling, and help-wise to their performance level. Then there’s a group of eight or 10 guys that are. Dak Prescott is in that second group, eight to ten guys that need help to play at the highest level,” Orlovsky said, according to SI.com.
That’s not a bad place to be for Dak or the Cowboys, but it does make his large contract and a potential extension seem like a riskier move.