Troy Aikman on contract negotiations between Cowboys and QB Dak Prescott

FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is understandably frustrated with his quarterback. Dak Prescott has won too many contract negotiations — and not nearly enough playoff games.

That, as much as anything else, explains why the contract stalemate between these parties threatens to extend into the regular season. With the season opener just 17 starts away, Prescott will leave Dallas as an unrestricted free agent – a potentially catastrophic event that the Cowboys will have to endure if they don't sign their starting quarterback before the end of next season.

Although the statement could affect his influence, Prescott said Thursday that winning the Super Bowl for Dallas is his priority.

“Honestly, what motivates me is being here, being the quarterback that gets it done, that wins,” he said just three days before his team's season opener. “I don't think it would be the same to win anywhere else.”

Troy Aikman is the last quarterback to win a Super Bowl for the Cowboys, and he continued to support Prescott when I spoke with him on Thursday. I asked Aikman what it would mean if Prescott had to play out the final year of his contract before getting a new one.

“If you feel like he's the right guy — that he's the quarterback of the franchise — then you're probably going to do the deal,” Aikman told me. “Of course, there are some caveats; they have to be there for the deal not to go through.” [But] the price will only go up.”

Aikman mentioned Kirk Cousins, who like Prescott has been named a franchise player twice and is now playing with his third NFL team. But the Cowboys have lost the option to sign Prescott as a franchise player, and Prescott has to ask himself whether the front office – despite all the Jones rhetoric – really believes in him.

“You start to wonder, 'Wow, I wonder if they're wondering whether I'm their man or not?'” Aikman said. “I think that's a reasonable conclusion.”

Barring a last-minute contract extension, Prescott will begin the 2024-2025 season with a salary cap hit of $55.1 million – the highest in NFL history, according to Spotrac. That figure also represents 21.6% of the league's salary cap, also an all-time high.

Prescott insisted Thursday that he is in a position to lock down when his contract expires, something that almost never happens to a franchise quarterback.

On the other hand, the Cowboys have some experience with this: Not only did Prescott play with the franchise tag in 2020, but Jones also signed Tony Romo in late October during the 2007 season. The season ended with the Cowboys finishing the regular season 13-3, but as the No. 1 seed, they lost their playoff opener at home.

“When someone commits to you, it makes you feel good, right?” Aikman said. “He would feel good if a deal was done. But as far as his leadership and the impact that has, I don't think that's going to change. He's clearly the leader of this team. I don't think anyone questions that, whether he's under contract or not. I still think he's a great player. Whether he's in Dallas or somewhere else, he's got all the assets. He's got his future in his hands and that's a good position to be in. Very few players have ever done that.”

Although he disagrees, Aikman said he can understand Jones' point of view because the owner has paid $40 million annually to a quarterback whose team has lost its first home playoff game in two of the last three seasons without ever having the lead.

“It's a lot of money, and when you win as many games as they did in the regular season and for some reason that didn't translate into January, I can understand the frustration of management,” Aikman said. “Just keep writing checks? Well, that's the way this league is if you're on that side.”

If Jones doubts that Prescott is attractive to other teams as an unrestricted free agent, he only has to look at the field in Cleveland this Sunday to see how desperate some teams are for starting quarterbacks.

The Browns traded six draft picks, including three first-round picks, to the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson in March 2022. They then showered him with a historic $230 million, fully guaranteed contract.

Since then, he has played 12 games for the Browns.

In this case, Jerry Jones' doubts about his quarterback are reminiscent of Jason Garrett's attempt to surprise his own kicker.

Despite working without a contract extension, head coach Mike McCarthy is Dak Prescott's playmaker for the second year in a row and has every reason to expect a high-scoring offense. Dallas has led the league in scoring in two of the last three seasons. In fact, McCarthy's Dallas and Green Bay teams averaged 26.6 points per game during his career as head coach – the second-highest total in NFL history behind Sean Payton’s average of 27.1 points per game.

With the ongoing uncertainty and the fact that the Cowboys seem to be leading the NFL in hysterical overreaction, McCarthy is emphasizing more than ever that things have to move quickly this season. The problem is, The Cowboys have never gone winless in season openers against any opponent other than the Giants in the last ten years.. They are 4:1 against NYG and 0:5 against others.

McCarthy is taking a proactive approach to improving his team's terrible road performance over the past two seasons, eliminating the option of a late charter bus from the team hotel to the stadium and requiring everyone to arrive early and acclimate — just as the head coach himself always did, walking the field with equipment manager Bucky Buchanan. Over the last two seasons, the Cowboys have gone 16-1 at home and 8-9 away.McCarthy said his new plan was an attempt to create more urgency.

Deshaun Watson, who has not played since shoulder surgery in November, starts for the Browns in Week 1. Watson will have not played a live game for 302 days when he starts the season. He also has yet to justify the huge trade and investment the Browns made to get him. During that time, he's earned $91.4 million in cash for 12 starts — or $7.6 million per start. That's what can happen to a franchise desperate for a quarterback who can win consistently.

One of Prescott's most important pass catchers has previously played alongside Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Tom Brady and Drew Brees – and Brandin cooks is amazed at the criticism that Dak Prescott endures. “This is blasphemy,” Cooks said. “This is unbelievable. The guy comes every year, year after year. He puts up numbers, leads his team. He can't do it all by himself. A lot of those great quarterbacks I've been around, Tom (Brady) and Drew (Brees), don't get me wrong, they won a lot of games, a lot of Super Bowls, but they also had a lot of help around them, right? Us players around (Dak) have to step up, too. So when we hear that disrespect, I take it personally and as his teammates, we should take it personally, because at the end of the day, somebody has to help him get over that hurdle so we can get a win.”

For the first time in franchise history The Cowboys will start their opening game with four rookies. Two of those starters are offensive linemen — left tackle Tyler Guyton and center Cooper Beebe, both of whom were signed after the Cowboys traded down their 24th pick last spring. They make their NFL debut in Cleveland against a Browns defense that led the league in several key categories last season and allowed fewer than 10 points per game at home. Beebe said, “It's going to be a great challenge for us going into the Dawg Pound. Their experienced front has played a lot. It's going to be a tough challenge. I'm ready for it and excited to show what I can do.”

Before Sunday's game, McCarthy described himself as relaxed, if not confident. That's understandable, since rookie left tackle Guyton will often face the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Myles Garrett had two sacks, one of them a strip sack of Prescott, when the Browns beat the Cowboys in 2020. Terence Steele was a young player back when he was bullied by Garrett. I mentioned to Steele that Guyton had a preparation advantage that he lacked — practice sessions against teammate Micah Parsons. “Yeah, those sessions against Micah are worth their weight in gold,” Steele replied. “You know, we never take them for granted.” Parsons has encouraged Guyton, telling the first-round draft pick, “If you can get in front of me, you can get in front of anybody.”

Rookie starting linebacker Marist Liufau shared with the media this week the message new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer gave his rookies before Week 1: “He told us to just let it go and let him do the thinking.”

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