Dak Prescott on urgency of new contract: 'I'll gamble on myself and my guys'
Dak Prescott has shown a willingness to gamble on himself in the past and is clearly prepared to do it again if need be.
Dak Prescott is coming off of one of the best statistical seasons of his career. He set a career-high in completion percentage (69.5), and his 4,516 passing yards and 36 touchdowns (led the NFL) were the second-best he's posted. He also finished second in the league MVP voting. So, that's certainly enough to garner a new contract, right?
Of course it does, but that's not how the Cowboys do business.
In Dallas, the philosophy is to play the long game and let leaves fall as team owner Jerry Jones put it. As each day passes, the questions about Prescott's future in Dallas continue to mount, especially with the lack of progression in talks between himself and the organization at the moment. However, when he was asked about the urgency to get a new deal done for himself and others on the team who are in similar situations, Prescott made it clear that he believes in himself and his teammates.
“This is the urgency you should always have, to be honest,” said Prescott, per The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “Maybe guys who wouldn’t normally feel it, feel it. I don’t mind it. I’ve been in this position before. I’m a gambling man. I’ll gamble on myself and my guys.”
This isn't Prescott's first rodeo with the Cowboys' front office when it comes to contract negotiations.
After the Cowboys started 3-0 in 2019, Jerry Jones said that a new deal for Prescott was imminent. Despite Prescott throwing for 4,902 yards (one yard shy of Tony Romo's franchise record) and 30 scores, he went into the next offseason without a deal. Dallas would place the franchise tag on him worth $31.4 million in March of 2020, and he signed it three months later. Unfortunately for Prescott, he suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle in Week 5 of the 2020 campaign, and he went on season-ending injured reserve.
In March of 2021, the Cowboys placed an exclusive franchise tag on Prescott, meaning he couldn't negotiate with any other team. The very next day, the Cowboys inked Prescott to a four-year extension for $160 million with $126 million in guaranteed dollars and a $66 million signing bonus. The former fourth-round pick gave the Cowboys an immediate return on their investment and threw for 4,449 yards and a team record 37 touchdowns. So, gambling on himself isn't new for Prescott, and he's shown that he can perform under that pressure.
This time around is no different than before. Prescott is staying patient and letting all the dominoes fall as they may.
“I don’t play for money. Never have never cared for it, to be honest with you, yeah,” Prescott said after the Cowboys’ OTAs on Wednesday. “Would give it up just to play this game. So, I allow that to the business people to say what it’s worth, what they’re supposed to give a quarterback of my play, a person of my play, a leader of my play. For me, it’s about, as I said, control what I can control and handle that part and the rest will take care of itself.”
This is the last year of Prescott's deal, which means he'll be an unrestricted free agent in 2025 if a deal doesn't get done. Very few feel that'll be the case, but the whispers of the opposite won't go away until Prescott puts his John Hancock on an extension.
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