Stephen Jones knew his advantage a few weeks ago in training camp.
The Cowboys executive vice president quoted his father, team owner Jerry Jones, calling it an “old Jerry-ism.”
“Santa Claus isn’t going to put a bike under your tree every year,” Jones told Yahoo Sports in an interview on Aug. 13. “You have to accept that bikes cost money.”
On Monday, the Cowboys, in Jones’ words, “reached a comfortable position” with paying their 2020 first-round draft pick a large signing bonus.
The Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb have agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $136 million with $100 million guaranteed, multiple sources familiar with the negotiations confirmed to Yahoo Sports.
For those who still consider the day before final cuts to be the offseason, this is arguably the biggest “offseason” move the Cowboys have made, and it brings Dallas one step closer to the urgency many fans are hoping for to break their multi-decade postseason drought.
But the Cowboys know Lamb’s contract is just one of the so-called Christmas presents on their wish list.
Quarterback Dak Prescott and edge rusher Micah Parsons are also due to sign big contracts soon, either from Dallas or elsewhere, but Prescott’s expiring contract is the more urgent of the two.
Jones said Aug. 13 that Parsons “isn’t going to do anything right now,” but his fifth-year option would raise his salary from $2.99 million to $21.32 million if a more lucrative contract isn’t reached before the 2025 season.
The Cowboys earned one contractual victory on Monday, but they face a road dotted with many more questions.
Lamb will be celebrating getting the richest receiver contract for a team that also pays its quarterbacks well. Meanwhile, the franchise is celebrating that Lamb’s extension falls short of, rather than above, Justin Jefferson’s market-defining four-year, $140 million deal with $110 million guaranteed.
“Obviously, we have to have a plan in place for Dak and Sheedy,” Jones said on Aug. 13. “Negotiations remain very amicable and the goal for everyone is to be a part of the Cowboys in the future and find a solution to the contract challenges — a solution that allows us to 1) acquire all three players and 2) build a quality team around those three.”
The Lamb deal would put the Cowboys at 33% of those targets, and it should give Prescott more confidence in the targets he can get if he does reach an extension.
But will he do so, and if so, when?
Who and what is next on the Cowboys’ contractual trajectory?
What could stop Prescott from negotiating with the Cowboys?
Jones said it was “our goal” to sign Prescott to a contract extension “before the start of the season.”
There are two main factors that could impede that outcome.
First, teams often say they want to extend the contracts of their star players but don’t confirm whether they want to do so at the level of money the player demands, which is sometimes what the market dictates. There’s no doubt the Cowboys would love to have their current $40 million quarterback at a price that allows them to invest in a talented and highly compensated supporting cast. But do the Cowboys want to pay Prescott the $55 million to $60 million per year that a burgeoning quarterback market might dictate?
Since his 2020 extension, 13 quarterbacks have reached contract extensions that are higher than Prescott’s average salary.
The Cowboys will likely point to Prescott’s limited playoff track record in negotiations, but Dallas won 12 games last season and Prescott led the league with 36 touchdowns while finishing second in the MVP race.
The second holdup is more unusual. In most quarterback negotiations, the club has the advantage. Teams often negotiate with years left on a player’s existing contract and also consider additional terms such as franchise or transition tags. Some teams may even threaten to trade the player.
The Cowboys have surprisingly little leverage in negotiating with Prescott.
The ninth-year starter is in the final year of his contract and can’t offset the cost of his big next deal with a reasonable current one. Prescott earned a four-year extension in his last negotiation instead of the five the Cowboys wanted. He’ll likely ask again to get back on the market within his desired time frame, which would limit the Cowboys’ salary-cap flexibility.
And the biggest leverage Prescott has is the no-trade and no-tag clauses in his contract.
In other words, if the Cowboys don’t reach a contract extension with Prescott this year, they don’t have “control” him and can’t force him to play for the team.
Would Prescott like that?
Expect the Cowboys to give Sheedy plenty of duck action
Prescott doesn’t plan on leaving the Cowboys anytime soon.
Just as Mark Twain once said, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” so too have the reports of Prescott’s certain divorce from the Cowboys.
But it’s a possibility.
And maybe there is a best of all worlds.
The Cowboys and Prescott must each ask themselves in negotiations: Can they win a Super Bowl together after eight years of trying and falling short? Year 9 was a lucky year for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, and for Washington and Joe Theismann (his seventh starter). John Elway and the Broncos went 14 seasons without a championship ring before winning in ’15 and ’16.
Still, Elway and the Broncos reached the Super Bowl three times in his first eight years, Manning reached a conference championship in his sixth try, and Theismann was technically in his seventh season as a starter when he won.
The Cowboys and Prescott have never been to an NFC finals or a Super Bowl together, and things could change. Do they want to keep trying?
Prescott will think about this when considering his next contract.
“I deserve it,” he told Yahoo Sports, but added, “This game is going to be judged on winning a Super Bowl. I understand people’s anxiety, maybe their anxiety and anxiety that I didn’t get it done. If they want to move on, this is a business.”
“It’s a two-way street. Things have to be done right from my side too.”
Simply put, Prescott could choose not to request or accept a contract extension in the coming weeks and months, decide not to re-sign with Dallas in the spring and try his hand at free agency.
Can he find a team better than the Cowboys? Possible options include the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets or Pittsburgh Steelers.
Prescott is in no rush to make a decision.
“The best way to put it is I’m free,” Prescott said. “And by free, I mean I’m in no rush, whether it’s before camp, during the season or at the end of the season when other people get their chance.”
For now, the Cowboys offense, led by Prescott and Lamb, has at least another year of opportunity. Lamb posted videos this week of himself working on route in and out of the sand and contorting his body to make catches in the gym. Dallas is hoping his training routine and existing chemistry with Prescott will make for a smooth return.
The Cowboys also expect Lamb to be busy on the field, and the Joneses weren’t going to pay the receiver this much without that guarantee.
“I think he’s going to touch the ball a lot,” Stephen Jones said. “For the amount of money we have to pay him, he’s going to play a lot better. [head coach] microphone [McCarthy] That’s not going to change. He’s going to be targeted 12-15 times a game and then we have to let him go a few more times, so I don’t think it’s going to change a bit.
“When you pay a receiver that much, they’re going to catch the ball eight to 12 times a game, maybe 15 times a game, sometimes 15 times.
“He’s our number one go-to guy.”