Cowboys Jerry on The Importance of Dak Prescott: 'He's Like A Family Member'
Jerry Jones has three grown children and dotes on them, relies on them and loves them dearly. But to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, "football is family,'' too. So every once in awhile, Stephen, Charlotte and Jerry Jr. have to step aside and make room for another "sibling.''
This time, it's Dak Prescott.
Jerry, speaking to the DFW media in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, tried to put a sharp and colorful point on the importance of Prescott to this franchise and the commitment the Jones family has to retaining him via what figures to be the largest contract in Cowboys history, by comparing Dak to his oldest son.
Jones said he feels about Dak "the same I feel about Stephen. There’s no going forward without Stephen or one of your family members. You got to figure it out.”
This is not unfamiliar territory to Cowboys fans who can remember Jerry heaping this sort of praise on players over the years. Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin got that treatment - not just contractually, but emotionally. In a later generation, so did Jason Witten (in fact if you listen to Jerry, Witten is still due it) and Tony Romo (who reciprocated and named one of his sons "Jones.'')
At the center of the negotiations, which re-opened Wednesday when Stephen met in Indianapolis with Prescott's agent Todd France of CAA, is of course money, years, security and guarantees. In September there was nearly an agreement that would've paid Dak "top-five QB'' money (around $34 million APY). Talks stalled all season long.
But Jerry Jones' Cowboys sound ready to get serious about a financial commitment to go along with the emotional one.
