Report: Dak Prescott has 'braced for that possibility' of free agency

Dak Prescott isn’t going anywhere, the Dallas Cowboys hope, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The Cowboys quarterback is entering the final year of the four-year, $160 million contract he signed in 2021. And while the Cowboys brass are making Prescott’s contract extension a priority — he is prepared to jump into free agency next offseason if the deal doesn’t get done.

“The Cowboys have privately made clear, they want Dak long term,” Fowler said on SportsCenter on Saturday morning. “Dak knows that, but their efforts so far have been somewhat passive. You know, they haven’t been aggressive in trying to get a deal done. That’s probably because they know the inevitable coin they have to spend on Prescott is gonna hurt. He’s got the nearly $60 million cap hit coming up. Considerable leverage with just one year left on his deal.

“He doesn’t want to hit free agency, but I’m told he’s at least braced for that possibility and he would smash the open market if he was a free agent in March. So the Cowboys know all this. They have a lot of players to pay in CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons. They’re probably going to start with their quarterback though.”

Previously, Fowler reported that he expects the Cowboys to ramp up contract talks with the former Mississippi State star. Of course, re-signing him would not only lock him up as Dallas’ quarterback for years to come, but Prescott’s cap hit for the 2024 season is $55.45 million. By extending him, they could alleviate some of that pressure.

As it stands, Prescott is currently the 10th-highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. Prescott has said in the past that he doesn’t “play for money,” and that he would give up all of his earnings if he had to if it meant he could keep playing football. Instead, he would rather, “allow that to the business people to say what it’s worth.” He’s currently focused on what he can control and that’s his performance on the field.

During the 2023-24 season, Prescott had an excellent 2023 campaign, leading the NFL in touchdown passes (36) and passing completions (410). Nonetheless, Prescott failed to lead his team to victory in the Wildcard Round of the NFL Playoffs.

Entering his ninth season with the Cowboys, there is a lot of pressure on Prescott to lead Dallas to success in the postseason. Despite making the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, Prescott has been unable to lead his group past the divisional round and the Cowboys haven’t been to the conference title game since the last time they won a Super Bowl in 1995.

It remains to be seen if Prescott is the quarterback to lead Dallas through the ceiling they’ve created over the past three decades, but one thing is for sure — Prescott is ready for whatever is next in his career.