Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones continues to state that the team is going all-in to compete for a Super Bowl, but the franchise is still dragging its feet in re-signing quarterback Dak Prescott despite multiple other quarterbacks across the league receiving massive extensions.
Prescott is likely looking to reset the market and become the highest-paid quarterback of all time with his new deal, a move that is not uncommon in the NFL world as it has already happened multiple times this offseason.
The most recent quarterback to reset the market was the Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love, who agreed to a four-year contract worth $220 million, including a record-breaking $155 million in guaranteed money, per Adam Schefter.
This contract gives Love the highest average annual value of all time for a football player at $55 million per year.
Love, 25, is a younger player than Prescott, 30, but does not have nearly the track record of consistency that the Cowboys’ quarterback has obtained.
This most recent season was the first full year that Love was a starter for the Packers, picking up 4,159 passing yards with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Meanwhile, Prescott outperformed Love in each category during the 2023-2024 season, throwing for 4,516 yards with 36 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.
Although Green Bay easily defeated the Cowboys during the playoffs, Prescott has led the franchise to multiple playoff appearances and 12-win seasons, justifying a contract larger than Love’s.
In addition to Love signing a new contract to reset the market, the Miami Dolphins also signed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a four-year extension worth $212.4 million that Prescott will surely look to exceed.
While Tagovailoa outperformed Prescott in passing yards, throwing for 4,624 during the 2023-2024 season, he also threw for just 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions during his season.
Dallas must now account for these two extensions while negotiating with Prescott and his camp. The price to retain the veteran quarterback has seemingly risen once again due to the Cowboys’ unwillingness to pay him earlier in the offseason.
An earlier commitment to Prescott could have saved the franchise a significant amount of money each season, as the quarterback may have been open to accepting a contract with an average annual value closer to $50 million.
Now, there is a chance that Prescott could command as much as $60 million per year in his new contract, which would be difficult to manage alongside the expected extensions of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and linebacker Micah Parsons.
Prescott seemed unwilling to commit to the Cowboys in the long term during the team’s training camp, seemingly indicating that, due to his age, he is looking to get the most money possible.
“I’ve gotten older. I’ve got a decision in this thing, so it’s not just one way here. As I said, it’s about my agent and Jerry and those guys getting together and talking. They understand where I am. I understand where they are. From there, that’ll get handled,” he said, per NFL.com.
While Prescott is not under any specific timeline to re-sign with the team, the two sides will continue discussing an extension without indicating when an agreement could be made.
