Cowboys Head Coach Tease Off A Top QB Player Due To..
FRISCO, Texas – The Dallas Cowboys may not extend quarterback Dak Prescott before the 2024 season, according to a new report.
A report from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport says the Cowboys and Prescott have a “mutual understanding of his contract situation,” according to sources.Rapoport says that Dallas has not offered the quarterback a new contract and that there is “no indication a deal is coming.”
That means Prescott, 31, could test free agency once his contract expires following this season.
The Cowboys’ QB signed a four-year, $160 million contract in 2021. His current cap number sits at more than $55 million, but a new deal could push that money into the future.
If no new contract is reached, Prescott’s deal would count just over $40 million against the Cowboys’ cap no matter where he plays in the 2025 season.
Several key players for the Cowboys have signed elsewhere during the offseason, including LT Tyron Smith, RB Tony Pollard, C Tyler Biadasz and WR Michael Gallup.
Dallas is re-arranging its books to pay top dollar for pass rusher Micah Parsons and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
The Dallas Cowboys have let quite a few players walk in free agency, but new contract details of a recent departure aren’t making fans happy. Sometimes a team can’t afford to bring a player back, but in former Cowboys DT Johnathan Hankins’ case, it was clearly a situation where they just didn’t want him around.
On March 25, ESPN reporter Brady Henderson reported the details of Hankins’ new deal with the Seattle Seahawks. Hankins isn’t being paid much more than the league minimum.
“The Seahawks’ deal with DT Johnathan Hankins is for one year and $2.05M with $300K guaranteed, a source tells me,” Henderson wrote on X. “Hankins got a $300K signing bonus, a $1.24M base salary and $510K in per-game bonuses.”
After that info was released, the immediate response from Cowboys fans was not positive. But then the report that 2023 first-round pick DT Mazi Smith would miss 4-6 months to recover from shoulder surgery, and it led to an even louder response from the Dallas fanbase.
“And Mazi is INJURED??? They KNEW this?? This guy who needs to make the big leap from season 1 to 2 is going to miss OTAs and mini-camp but no, we couldn’t go get DJ Reader or Jonathan freaking Hankins. I can’t with these Jones apologists,” Cowboys fan @IntheClutch75 wrote on X.
Now that the Cowboys have a depth issue at DT, letting Hankins walk is only creating more chatter. For Blogging the Boys’ RJ Ochoa, there is no question that this is a blunder.
“The Dallas Cowboys do not deserve to be an NFL team,” Ochoa wrote on X.
Meanwhile, 97.1 The Freak host Kevin Gray Jr. doesn’t believe that the Cowboys were “priced out” on Hankins.
“Cowboys are down bad, they couldn’t afford this for Johnathan Hankins GTFOH #DallasCowboys,” Gray wrote on March 25.
Not everyone believes that the Cowboys made a mistake. Ochoa’s coworker, Blogging the Boys writer Dan Rogers, brought up the counterpoint that new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer just didn’t want him in his system.
“Everyone seems so annoyed that Jerry wouldn’t pony up for Hankins. I love Big Hank. I would’ve brought him back,” Rogers wrote. “But the thing people are missing is that if Mike Zimmer wanted Hankins for his defense, the Cowboys would’ve re-signed him. That tells us all we need to know.”
As mentioned above, Mazi Smith will be rehabbing for the next few months after shoulder surgery. He’s not alone, as Cowboys TE and 2023 second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker also had a shoulder operation and will also miss OTAs and minicamp.
Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy spoke on the situation, and backed Smith to have a big second season.
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Cowboys QB Dak Prescott expected to play on current contract for 2024 season..
The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott are prepared to play out the final year of the quarterback’s contract.
The Cowboys and Prescott have a mutual understanding that there will be no adjustment to his contract entering the 2024 season, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Tuesday, per sources informed of the plan.
It was assumed the Cowboys would need to extend Prescott’s contract this offseason to lower the massive salary cap figure. Ultimately, the club and QB decided it was best to play out the deal and figure things out on the other side of the season.
Earlier this month, the Cowboys converted a $5 million roster bonus into a signing bonus, shaving $4 million off Prescott’s salary cap figure. That number still sits at a whopping $55.445 million. The club also added two additional void years through 2028.
Prescott signed a four-year, $160 million contract in 2021, which included no-trade and no-tag clauses. With no extension forthcoming, Prescott is on his way toward free agency in 2025. If Dallas doesn’t eventually sign the QB to an extension, he’d still count $40.46 million against the 2025 salary cap.
In 2021, Prescott owned all the leverage after Dallas used back-to-back franchise tags on the QB. That leverage allowed him to negotiate a shorter, four-year deal than the five-year pact the club preferred. Given his massive cap number, Prescott still owns a ton of leverage. Instead of bowing to that power, the Cowboys seem to be content to let things play out.
There is still time for sides to figure things out, and owner Jerry Jones doesn’t seem to be sweating the future, saying Tuesday, “We are where we are. We have our contract. We’re locked and loaded for this year, and we can see as we move along how we are thinking.”
Next offseason could be wild in Dallas with Prescott on a clear path toward free agency.