Dak Prescott 'preparing loosely for possibility' to play elsewhere in 2025

While Dak Prescott wants to be with the Dallas Cowboys, the 2025 season could change things, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

As Fowler reported, Prescott has a lot of leverage, which seems to be a common theme around the conversation concerning his future. At a certain point, are the Cowboys just going to have to pony up and pay him? It’s certainly possible and likewise for the exact opposite scenario.

“Negotiations with Prescott and the Cowboys will need to heat up eventually this summer,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “The Cowboys have made clear privately behind the scenes that they want to extend Dak Prescott, that they want him in the fold beyond 2024. He is a 2025 free agent, but their negotiations have been described to me so far as passive. 

“So, Prescott has considerable leverage here with a cap hit of nearly $60 million in the final year of his deal. He would have many suitors next year if got to free agency. So he wants to be a Cowboy but he’s preparing loosely for the possibility that he might be elsewhere in the future unless the Cowboys stop him.”

Entering the 2024 season, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is the league’s highest-paid player. He is averaging $55 million a year. If that’s the current benchmark for the Cowboys to hit, it’s expensive, but the price tag could potentially balloon by next offseason.

Prescott, who is gearing up for Year 9 in the NFL, is going to make an outrageous sum soon, whether it’s this offseason or next. He told reporters last week that he doesn’t play for the money, but with all that leverage, it’s hard not to go for the maximum contract.

“I don’t play for money. Never have cared for it, to be honest with you, yeah,” Prescott said at Cowboys OTAs. “Would give it up just to play this game. So, I allow that to the business people to say what it’s worth, what they’re supposed to give a quarterback of my play, a person of my play, a leader of my play. For me, it’s about, as I said, control what I can control and handle that part and the rest will take care of itself.”

Prescott signed a four-year, $160 million deal in 2021. Prescott’s cap hit for the 2024 season is $55.445 million, but by extending him, they could alleviate some of that pressure.