Insider Reveals Path for Cowboys to Move on From Dak Prescott

Dak Prescott still has two seasons remaining on his four-year, $160 million contract but that is not stopping speculation about the quarterback’s future with the Dallas Cowboys. ESPN’s Dan Graziano recently broke down the future of several NFL quarterbacks and outlined a potential pathway for the Cowboys to move on from Prescott in 2024. The insider added that things would have to “go very wrong” for Prescott in order to prompt Dallas to consider making a move in two seasons.

“Dak is sure to be the Cowboys’ starter for at least one more year after this one and probably much longer, as they’ll likely look to extend him this offseason or next,” Graziano detailed on November 30, 2022. “But if things were to go wrong, the 2024 season is when the Cowboys would have a relatively easy out.

“Moving on from Dak in the 2024 offseason would cost them no cash, and about $40 million in dead-money cap charges for 2024. But Dak’s only 29, and they love him there, so things would have to go very wrong for any of this to matter. Just pointing out that this extension, which feels so recent, was a short-term deal designed to get him to the market again sooner, or prompt a decision by Dallas on an extension in the next year or two.”

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Jones Continues to Back Prescott as the Cowboys Long-Term QB1

There is no indication that the Cowboys will move on from Prescott, and the team remained committed to the veteran despite the solid play from Cooper Rush during his absence earlier this season. During a November 15 interview on 105.3 The Fan’s “Shan and RJ,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dismissed the idea that Prescott is holding the team back as a contender

“Dak brings us the separator, now does that mean Dak is going to win every game or make every comeback or every key situation? You can answer that one, of course not,” Jones said of Prescott. “But by the same token, if you were constructing the possibility of competing for a Super Bowl, I would start on this team right there with Dak. He’s that integral to us really being able to have the year that we want to have.”

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Will the Cowboys Be Able to Re-Sign Rush?

It will be interesting to see how the Cowboys handle Prescott’s extension talks given the rising price of NFL starting quarterbacks. Dallas dragged their feet before signing Prescott to a new contract in 2021.

The Cowboys also face a decision on Rush’s future who will be a free agent this offseason. Rush may have played himself into a lucrative new contract, and if a quarterback-needy team pursues him it may be difficult for Dallas to retain their QB2.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio previously reported that Rush views himself as a starting quarterback. For Rush to make this a full-time reality, the veteran would need to leave the Cowboys but another opportunity would also have to present itself.

“I spoke to him [Rush] after the game. He said he thinks he’s proven he can be a starter in the NFL elsewhere, and he’s ignoring any noise about a potential controversy in Dallas — even if some if it is coming from Jerry Jones himself,” Florio said during the October 2 edition of NBC’s “Football Night in America.”

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