Cowboys 'Don't Need' New Contract With Dak Prescott; Jerry Jones Admits 'Band-aid Option' for Dallas QB
Jerry Jones spent 42 minutes on Friday in Indianapolis meeting with DFW media, a session on "the party bus'' at NFL Scouting Combine overloaded with a great deal of what I've called "Little Rock Insurance Salesman Word-Salad Gibberish'' from the Dallas Cowboys owner.
But tucked inside all of the "all-in'' nonsense (the Cowboys seem to be using their own dictionary to define what "all in'' means), Jones offered a revelation regarding the long-planned contract extension for Dak Prescott.
"We don't need to'' do a new deal,'' Jones conceded.
I've written about the path he's referring to, calling it "The Band-aid Option,'' and simply, it is about what happens if on the opening of NFL business on March 13 Prescott's cap hit remains at its presently bloated $59.4 million.
While an extension would help the club extend that money out over the course of future seasons while allowing for $20 million worth of spending room in free agency this offseason, "The Band-aid Option'' can offer the same 2024 flexibility by "flipping the switch'' to move money from Prescott's deal this year into two future voidable years.
It's a bookkeeping trick that comes with some danger, as without a new deal (I believe Prescott is seeking $60 million APY, which might be reason enough for Dallas to be moving so slowly here), the QB can become a free agent after 2024.
"No, I don't fear that," Jones said. "Every player you got has some time when his contract is up. You would walk around with the shakes if you feared it.''
OK, no fear. But also no new deal?
"We don't need to, but we can if everybody wants to solve it," Jones said. "You can get in and get on the same page and see if you can come to an agreement. If you can't, what we have in place works.''
Jones insisted he remains a Dak believer, saying of the NFL MVP runner-up, "He had one of the best years ... The good news is, I'm convinced that he can play better and I'm convinced that we can do some things better all the way around.''
Jerry said all this despite the team having made no major negotiating move with Prescott's agent, Todd France. But Jerry did insist that the Cowboys "are going to be working on his contract as we get into the future. What we do there or don't do, I couldn't say at this time but the main thing is he's going to be our quarterback."
That is indeed a "main thing.'' But how Prescott fits into the cap is a "main thing,'' too ... as is Jerry's concession that the "extension plan'' might be shelved in favor of "The Band-aid Option.''
