After opening the offseason with a tone of optimism regarding continuing his career in Dallas past this season, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott seems much more open to the possibility of taking his talents elsewhere after 2024.
"I'm not going to say I fear being here or not. I don't fear either situation, to be candid with you," Prescott said Friday from the Children's Cancer Fund Gala, via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. "I love this game and love to play and love to better myself as a player and my teammates around me. Right now it's with the Dallas Cowboys, it's where I want to be, and that's where I am, and that's the focus. And after the season we'll see where we're at and if the future holds that. And if not, we'll go from there."
Prescott has one year remaining on his current contract, a four-year, $160 million deal signed in 2021, and said early in March that he was “definitely confident” that he and the Cowboys would be able to get an extension done.
But that confidence was thrown into question over the course of the month. Owner Jerry Jones said, “I don’t fear that,” when asked about this season possibly being Prescott's last in Dallas, followed by reports that the Cowboys had a mutual understanding with the quarterback that they would not adjust his contract before the 2024 season.
Prescott confirmed Friday that he and Jones had not had contract discussions, though he said they had conversations on the situation and were "aligned" with where things stand at the moment. But he did not rule out the possibility of the sides talking in the future, even as he tries to keep his attention on preparing for the season ahead.
"Honestly, I'm focused on the moment, on the now," Prescott said. "If the talks begin and real talks get to happen, sure, we can talk about getting that done, but in this case right now I'm worried about getting better, being better than I am at this moment. So leaving that up to my agent and Jerry at this point."
Prescott is coming off of the best season of his eight-year career in Dallas, leading the Cowboys to a third straight playoff appearance, and putting up career highs in completions (410), completion percentage (69.5) and QB rating (105.9), while also leading the league with 36 touchdown passes. All this earned him a second-place finish in the AP Most Valuable Player voting behind Lamar Jackson.
But despite his recent success, Prescott expressed that if negotiations do start up, he won't necessarily require them to pay him above all other players.
"Yeah, no, I'm not trying to be the highest paid, necessarily," he said. "So I'll wait till negotiations begin, and obviously want to put this team in the best situation."
A more affordable contract would definitely be more appealing on the Cowboys' end, as Dallas still needs to work out extensions with linebacker Micah Parsons and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb with limited cap space. Prescott's 2024 cap hit is $55.445 million.
Joe Burrow currently has the highest average salary after signing an extension last September that gave him an average of $55 million per year. Prescott's $40 million per-year average puts him 10th on the list, per Spotrac, with a good amount of space between that and the "highest paid" marker if he's looking for a raise on his next deal.
But with no contract talks imminent and both sides expressing acceptance of the status quo, the possibility that 2024 could be Prescott's final ride as a Cowboy seems only to be getting more likely as the offseason goes on.
