'Gob-Smacked!' Bombshell Cowboys Rumor: No Dak Contract? - NFL Network
Much of the offseason has been dominated by everyone trying to decipher exactly what Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones meant by being "all in."
Is it to go out and acquire big-name free agents and kick the salary cap can down the road to 2027? Or is it to sign up the star players who require a new contract like Dak Prescott?
As it turns out, it might be neither.
NFL Network's Rich Eisen was at the Scouting Combine all week, had his ear to the ground and upon his return, had quite the rumor list at his disposal. Now, Eisen is a well-respected personality in the industry and has been for decades so we don't take this with a grain of salt.
Eisen has revealed some of the chatter heard at Indianapolis during the Scouting Combine and it has something to do with Prescott's contract situation and Cowboys Nation, you're going to want to sit down for this.
“The rumor I heard from multiple people at the combine is his [Jerry Jones'] definition of all in is to make Dak play out his walk year and not extend him at all and just eat the cap hit," Eisen said on The Rich Eisen Show.
“This is what he means by all in. He means hey Dak you haven't won a playoff game except you know a couple around here, last year was so dreadful I'm going to make you play it out and I'll eat the 59 near 60 million bucks. If you do what I hope you do [win a Super Bowl], hold me over a barrel because you think he's going to take less than 59 million bucks to stay put? I was just gob-smacked when I heard that.”
DALE ZANINE-USA TODAY SPORTS, Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Now, CowboysSI.com has already detailed the three options at Dallas' disposal when it comes to figuring out what to do with Prescott's contract, and not extending him and severely limiting what the team can do in terms of roster building wasn't thought to be a serious consideration.
Well, according to Eisen, it's more than a consideration, it might be the avenue that Jerry might be going down.
Now this contradicts Dak's words at a Children's Cancer Fund Event on Monday as the quarterback said he was "confident" a deal would get done.
So the sticky offseason that the Cowboys have had already with the news that Tyron Smith is set to walk out the door to free agency, and now Eisen's rumor and for now we will call it just that, but things are exactly going smoothly for a franchise facing a seriously pressurized offseason.
With the Cowboys needing to be cap-compliant by March 13 (the beginning of the new league year), we will not have to wait to find out exactly what Jerry meant by "all in."
But by not extending Dak or using the "band-aid" method and seriously limiting the team's ability to add quality to a roster many deem "Super Bowl caliber" by swallowing Prescott's monster cap hit for 2024 doesn't scream "all-in" does it?
Prescott's contract situation and future just got a whole lot more interesting.
