During Super Bowl week, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott suggested he's confident a new contract will get done but didn't deny that if things fell apart again, he might consider skipping offseason workouts.
With new coach Mike McCarthy in town, the prospect of the most important player in the offense not being at every single workday gives Prescott a sprinkle more leverage in negotiations.
The Cowboys know they're on the clock.
"We want to get this done," VP Stephen Jones said Thursday, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Things are fixing to heat up. We want to put every foot forward and try to grind this out and get a deal done."
Prescott also indicated that he'd prefer not to get franchise tagged, which could be used to further delay the long-term deal he's been seeking. With the first day for clubs to designate the tag beginning on Feb. 25 and running until March 10, the Cowboys are on a tight timeline.
Sides nearly struck a deal before the 2019 campaign, but Dallas couldn't land the plane. Now, it'll likely cost them more money to lock down their franchise signal-caller. As QB contracts continue to rise, waiting will only make Dak more expensive to keep.
"I don't want to get into the details, but we have offered him significant money," Jones said. "The money we have offered Dak no matter how you look at it would put him as a top five quarterback in the NFL. That is the way we feel about him. He is one of the best."
Russell Wilson currently sits as the highest-paid QB at $35 million per year. Next comes Ben Roethlisberger at $34 million, Aaron Rodgers and Jared Goff at $33.5 million, and Carson Wentz at $32 million.
As we saw with Wentz and Goff, the team to wait will end up paying more. We don't even need to get into comparing Prescott to whatever outrageous figure Patrick Mahomes gets that will reset the market, but that too would play a factor.
"Certainly, at the end of the day, we want him to get what he's got coming," Jones said. "At the same time and he understands we want to keep as many guys as we can and do what gives us the best opportunity to win a Super Bowl. So that's the line you walk there ... We want to get him signed. We think the world of him."
