Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reiterates stance on Dak Prescott negotiations, uncertain future

FRISCO — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a moment on Wednesday to revisit some recent history.

When asked about it at training camp, Jones said there wasn’t really any urgency to end star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s holdout, prompting a simple and poignant “lol” response on X from Lamb himself. Eventually, the Cowboys signed lamb to a four-year, $136 million deal this week.

Jones wanted to make it clear on Wednesday: there wasn’t — and shouldn’t have been — any doubt about the Cowboys’ intention to sign Lamb to a massive extension. You just had to read the tea leaves, as Jones said.

“These things,” Jones said, “just have a life of their own.”

That life — it being the negotiations with Lamb — has come and gone. Lamb couldn’t stop smiling on Tuesday night as he answered questions about his life-changing deal. But the other negotiation that’s ongoing? The end to that, tea leaves or not, doesn’t appear to be imminent.

Jones, in an interview last week, told DLLS that he didn’t expect the Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott to come to terms on a new extension before the season opener, which is 11 days away in Cleveland. Jones reitterated that thinking on Wednesday, saying: “That hasn’t changed. We’re continuing to first of all, all of us, focus on what’s coming up here in [11 days]. That game takes priority over anything. Lamb wasn’t here. Dak is here. We have really have no more to do in those significant things we talk about every time we meet … It will remain like it’s been.”

Jones also said the season opener in Cleveland wasn’t a final deadline for a deal to either get done or not. Talks could conitnue into the season.

The inherent follow-up: how did it get this far?

Some would guess that maybe it has something to do with Prescott’s playoff record with the Cowboys. He’s currently 2-5 — the latest quarterback in Dallas’ nearly 30-year run without a conference title game appearance.

Jones, instead, said that wasn’t the case.

“You could easily say, if you hadn’t seen it by now, you haven’t seen it,” Jones said when asked what more he needs to see from Prescott to sign him. “I’m such a fan of Dak’s and appreciate all of the great things that we all know that he’s there. I appreciate his work ethic probably more than anything out here. I can’t tell you how proud I am that we’ve got him this year to start this campaign.

“Dak’s situation, right now, for me, from my mirror, has more to do with our situation than it does with the merits of Dak Prescott being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.”

The ole: it’s not you, it’s me.

Jones indidcated last week to DLLS that a breakup isn’t the hope, either. Jones said his hope is that the marriage can continue beyond 2024.

As of now, though, Prescott enters a season on an expiring contract. He can’t be franchise tagged. He can’t be traded, without his permission.

Jones was asked about whether it can be a good thing for players on expriing contracts to be incentivized. He agreed, saying he believes in leaving a carrott out in front of a hungry rabbit to chase.

The only problem with that: the carrott Jones is using might not equal the carrott awaiting Prescott in free agency if he chose to go there.

When it comes to Prescott’s future with the Cowboys, those tea leaves aren’t as easy to read.