Cowboys stress massive contracts will take time

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterJul 25, 2024, 06:17 PM ET
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OXNARD, Calif. — The Dallas Cowboys are not asking for sympathy when it comes to their negotiations with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons, but they would like some understanding and they would like time.

“We have a very unique situation,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “We have a quarterback, who played at the top of his game last year, second in MVP voting, who can leave [after this season]. And then we’ve got two players who can’t leave … We could sign one of them and both of them — rightfully so — believe they should be the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. And totally respect that. So very difficult situations that we’re trying to work through with them. They want to win. They want to put a ring on their finger, and they understand the difficult situation we have.”

The Cowboys held their first training camp practice Thursday without Lamb, their All-Pro receiver, who remains in Houston, working out as he awaits his contract. Prescott and Parsons were on hand, but there’s not a guarantee either will be in Oxnard, California, next summer for training camp.

Prescott will be a free agent next March. Parsons will be entering the fifth-year option of his rookie deal if he does not sign an extension before then and could follow Lamb’s holdout plan.

While it might feel tenuous to those outside of the organization, it doesn’t to coach Mike McCarthy, who is also entering a contract year.

“That’s not the way we’re wired,” McCarthy said, adding, “We’re energized by what’s in front of us.”

If Lamb, who is due $17.99 million this year on the fifth-year option, and Parsons, who is under contractual control through 2025, are seeking deals that would make them the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the league, then those contracts would average more than $35 million a year. Prescott, who is in the final year of a deal that pays him $40 million on average, is looking at a deal that could make him the highest-paid player in the NFL, north of $55 million per season.

Prescott said once training camp begins, his involvement in the talks will end.

“Those guys definitely need to get paid and need to get their money,” Prescott said. “I’ve gotten a contract and so the last thing I’m going to ask them to do is take less. But this is a two-way street when you’re talking about contracts. I’ve gotten older. I’ve got a decision in this thing so it’s not just one-way here.”

Prescott reiterated he wants to remain with the Cowboys, but acknowledged he has an “obligation,” to other quarterbacks and his teammates on what he accepts. If Prescott accepts a new deal with the Cowboys or hits the open market, he will be well-compensated.

In recent years, he has seen Tom Brady leave the New England Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Aaron Rodgers be traded by the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets.

“I want to be here, but when you look up all the great quarterbacks I’ve watched played for other teams,” Prescott said. “So, my point in saying that is that that’s not something to fear. That may be a reality for me one day. It may not be my decision. So that’s the freedom that I have is [to] be where your feet are, make the most of it, be confident in yourself, make your team better. I love my teammates and I love that locker room and I love everything about being here in Oxnard and being a Dallas Cowboy, so that’s what allows me to be free and focused and understand that in time who knows what comes?”

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he does not worry about Prescott being elsewhere in 2025. He calls the contractual issues, “business as usual,” and is not afraid of the “ambiguity,” that comes from uncertain futures of players and coaches.

His focus is on 2024 and ending a Super Bowl drought that is 28 years and counting. For all of the losses in free agency, Jones was quick to point out 14 Pro Bowlers remain on the current roster even if there have not been substantial improvements made to a team that lost in the wild-card round last January to Green Bay.

“I’m more about winning the award for the best way to end the season than I am winning the award for showing up at camp with my house in order,” Jones said. “I’m more worried about ending the season than I am a fast start … I take a lot of solace in the fact that we’ve had the 12 [win] seasons, the wins that we’ve had over the last several years. The fact that we’ve got the personnel we’ve got here at camp, the coaches we got. I take a lot of solace that we’re going to be there to get a chance to go to the playoffs and do better.”