Cowboys prepping for huge contract extension for Dak Prescott

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to know why there’s such a breathless fuss. He said that he always intended to give quarterback Dak Prescott a new contract extension.

And we’re assuming it will be lucrative, given escalating quarterback contracts these days and how well Prescott is playing. Jones spoke to reporters from the NFL owners meetings. The meeting is outside Dallas, which means Cowboys officials don’t have far to go.

These days, Prescott is the hottest player in the NFL, especially after Dallas humbled the Eagles, 33-13, Sunday night at AT&T Stadium. You can call this a money year for the eight-year veteran. His contract ends at the end of the 2024 season.

“I’ve never thought that we wouldn’t be making a contract,” Jones told the Dallas Morning News Tuesday night. “I think that’s the best way for me to say it. The idea of doing it or not doing it has not been on the table from my perspective period at any time here.”

Prescott’s final year of his contract will cost the Cowboys $59.4 million, total, against the cap. He’s set to receive a $5 million roster bonus in March and his base is $29 million. The DMN noted that the Cowboys are set to spend $67.6 million on their quarterbacks next season. That’s an NFL high.

The Cowboys likely will restructure the final year of Prescott’s deal to create some cap space. They also may beed to release players and not sign as many free agents.

Cowboys quarterback only 10th-highest-paid NFL player

In 2021, Prescott signed a four-year contract worth $140 million. At the time, Patrick Mahomes was the only quarterback earning more. But since then, quarterback salaries have exploded. Coming into this season, we saw new deals for Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert. Burrow’s deal, with an average of $55 million per year, is the highest ever. Prescott’s deal is only the 10th highest in the league.

Earlier Tuesday, Jones told fans not to worry about the process and whether it’s taking too long. It’s not, he said.

“It’s meaningless,” Jones said of the chatter. “The only thing that is factual here is what I decide and what we decide as a team and what Dak decides. We know exactly where we are on the contract, years left on the contract and we should be, and are, about as close on that type of communication. … The timing on it remains to be seen.”

Jones lauded Prescott Sunday night following the Cowboys win over the Eagles. It also was the first time Dallas had beaten a team with a winning record this season.

“I thought this was a monumental game for him,” Jones told reporters. “Everybody who follows the NFL knew that he had a lot of the expectation as to how he was going to perform and how he was going to meet this challenge. The ever overhang of well, did he do it with the right competition? I don’t mean to sound condescending. That’s fair. He did tonight, and he did it in a very efficient way against a team as good as we’ll play. . . . But I think that we’ll go as far as Dak will take us.”