Cowboys Ex Aikman Endorses Dak Mega-Contract: 'Best Years Ahead'
There might not be another former Dallas Cowboys player more synonymous with winning than ex-quarterback Troy Aikman. And the former quarterback is confident the current one, Dak Prescott, has his "best years ahead of him."
Aikman was the last Cowboys quarterback to win a Super Bowl, and he has three to his name. Since then, no other Dallas signal-caller has been able to get America's Team over the hump.
The former Cowboys quarterback thinks the playoff failure against the Green Bay Packers last season can be blamed on the team, not Prescott.
"I benefited from the success of the teams I was on in January, so I understand there's two sides to that coin," said Aikman, speaking from a charity event for Children's Cancer Fund in Dallas. "But until you do it, there's always the question of whether or not you can.
"I do think this last year is gonna be a year that the organization and the players all look back on and see they really missed an opportunity."
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has indicated the team is "all in" for 2024, a season in which coach Mike McCarthy will be playing out the last year of his contract.
"I think there's been some of those in the last 20 years when they've been the No. 1 seed, but the way the year ended for them — being the No. 2 seed — I really thought they'd be in the NFC Championship Game," Aikman added. "I'm certain they thought the same thing. Nobody cares what my plans were, but I didn't make plans because I planned on going to San Francisco and watching that game.
"So, yeah, it was a missed opportunity and you just don't know how many more of those you're going to get. The criticisms are real and they're gonna continue to get louder each year that they come up short, just because of the amount of time since they've been able to get to the NFC Championship Game."
Prescott is also entering the final year of his contract coming off a career-best season and talks of an MVP award before eventual winner Lamar Jackson ran off with it in the final weeks of the season.
Aikman thinks that Prescott will get a long-term deal in Dallas and that he's the best guy to be under center for the Cowboys.
"They've got to do this deal, don't they? They've got to free up some money, so he'll be here a little while longer, and he should be. He's proven he can play at a high level. I know they've come up short as a team the last few years, but he's been a great player in this league and his best years are ahead of him."
