Mike McCarthy explains why Terence Steele is such a 'high value' player after signing extension

Following Terence Steele‘s extension over the weekend, Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy sang his right tackle’s praises at length on Monday.

Steele inked for five years, $86.8 million, which includes $50 million in guaranteed money. His new deal also includes incentives that could bring his total up to $91.8 million, showing just how much Dallas loves their former undrafted free agent.

“Terence Steele, the man, just look at his journey here,” McCarthy said during his press conference. “His first year. He’s earned everything. He’s someone we have a very high value tied to him and he’s earned his contract. Really proud of him. Just his work ethic, the way he goes about it. He’s improved every year. It says so much about him.”

Steele, who went undrafted out of Texas Tech, joined the Cowboys in 2020. He initially signed a three-year deal for $2.3 million. He’s now exponentially increased his salary and solidified himself as one of the team’s most valuable assets.

Even after suffering a season-ending knee injury in mid-December, Steele continued to show the Cowboys his worth.

“Terence didn’t miss a day,” McCarthy said. “It was like clockwork, watching him attack his rehab.”

The 25-year-old Texas native began starting as a rookie in place of an injured La’el Collins. He started 14 of 16 games in 2020 after starting for four years for the Red Raiders. He was on and off as a starter in 2021 before cementing his role in 2022.

Cowboys have more work to do after extending Terence Steele

Steele is just the latest Cowboy to receive a big money extension this offseason, joining cornerback Trevon Diggs (five years, $97 million) and Donovan Wilson (three years, $24 million).

With Steele locked up, the priority turns to extending quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb. Prescott is signed through 2024 and carries a $59.45 million cap hit next season. While the Cowboys have expressed their desire to extend Prescott’s contract, there hasn’t been much dialogue between the two sides, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.

Even after acquiring quarterback Trey Lance from the San Francisco 49ers on Aug. 25, team owner Jerry Jones said it had no impact on contract negotiations with Prescott.

“Didn’t cross my mind, period, about an impact here regarding Dak,” Jones said. “I know that Dak wants to do anything we can do to improve this team. And we’re going to do it. The facts are that the decision to bring in as high a quality of talent as we could, that’s involving young talent… That’s something that we’ve been trying to do, just never the opportunity seems to be there. So often we’ve been trying to do what we did today with this trade almost every draft since we’ve been drafting.”

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this report.