No deal is done between quarterback Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys.
“We still got time,” a source said Saturday night. “We are still working on it.”
No one has said negotiations would stop once the season starts and for practical matters they will likely continue.
And Prescott said recently told former Cowboys quarterback and ESPN analyst Troy Aikman that he wouldn’t take it personal if a deal doesn’t get done.
The start of the season has been an unofficial line of demarcation, as anything is possible after that with the quarterback risking injury over the next 17 games.
Prescott, who led the NFL in touchdown passes and finished second in NFL MVP balloting in 2023, is in the last year of the four-year, $160 million deal he signed in 2021.
He has a no-trade and no-franchise tag clause in his deal.
Prescott would arguably be the biggest free agent to hit the market in NFL history if the Cowboys don’t sign him to extension before March, considering he could likely command a deal worth a league-record $60 million or more annually in an open bidding process.
The current richest contract in the NFL is $55 million annually, shared by Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, Green Bay’s Jordan Love and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence.
If the Cowboys want to keep Prescott in Dallas as they say they do, it’s imperative they sign him to extension because March but preferably before kickoff against the Browns.
Receiver CeeDee Lamb signed a four-year, $136 million two week ago after missing all of training camp and the entire offseason in a hold out. He said there is still time.
“I feel like 24 hours can really change your life,” Lamb said on Thursday. “Obviously it’s done that for me and throughout the process I went through.”
Lamb said it would be best for the Cowboys and Prescott to get it done now, before the start of the season.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Lamb said. “Obviously, Dak is doing a great job of not really bringing it into the workspace. But I know personally that it can take a toll on you. He’s doing a great job of leading us in the right direction. He knows that we’re rooting for him, me, the most, for sure. We need to hurry up and get this done, so we can just put this all behind us and go win more ball games.”
The clock is ticking.
