Dak Prescott Signing New Contract A Cowboys Key as $59.4 Million Cap Hit Looms

"It's on the mind on a player decision in the middle of the year,'' says Jerry Jones of the Cowboys' plan for an in-season contract extension for Prescott. "We expect Dak to be with us a long time."

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys' offseason negotiations with Dak Prescott are about to become in-season negotiations ... with team owner Jerry Jones reiterating on Tuesday that a long-term extension that matches the mutual commitment from both parties is a virtual inevitability.

"Those numbers on those contracts, those types of numbers, especially the big ones, you live with constantly, that's always on your mind. There's never a time when it goes away because you've got to make the entire thing fit," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. "So it's on the mind on a player decision in the middle of the year. So it's just a fundamental. We expect Dak to be with us a long time."

As Jones recently told CowboysSI.com, it's "fundamental'' both because of the team's long-term belief in the quarterback and because the way his present four-year, $160 million deal signed ahead of the 2021 season is structured, its final year of 2024 is set to count $59.4 million against the salary cap.

That will get in the way of Dallas doing business with other stars like CeeDee Lamb (eligible for a deal now) and Micah Parsons (eligible after this season). It has always been the plan to extend Dak and to spread out the big cap impact in a more palatable way ...

And now, with Week 1 upon us (starting with Sunday night's visit to the New York Giants), it simply means that a new contract will likely happen during the season.

"Absolutely, absolutely, at any time," Jones said. "We all have ... times that I get up and I feel like locking something down that may be a loose end, and if I get a chance to, well, I'll do it. ... It can happen during a season.''

Actually, again, it pretty much must happen during the season. And that's not a problem for anybody involved, including team leader Prescott, 30, who is on-record as saying he "trusts'' the Cowboys front office to get it done.

"We're always working around it with several machinations of numbers that would work," Jones said. "It's a moving target ... It's constantly on your mind. It's part of your (franchise) makeup."