Cowboys Notes: DeMarcus Lawrence, Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, Jason Witten

DeMarcus Lawrence

• Ian Rapoport reports that the Cowboys and franchise DE DeMarcus Lawrence have been exchanging contract proposals for the past several weeks. 
• Rapoport says that the Cowboys are willing to pay Lawrence around $20 million per year, but he looking for a little more than that. 
• The other issue is that Lawrence still needs to undergo labrum surgery. Dallas wants him to get the surgery as soon as possible, but he plans to wait until he gets a long-term deal. 
• Rapoport says that this surgery comes with a four-month recovery, so he would need to have the procedure either April or May at the latest to ensure he’s ready for Week 1. 

Dak Prescott & Amari Cooper

Cowboys executive Stephen Jones said the contract negotiations for DeMarcus Lawrence, Dak Prescott, and Amari Cooper are each in their “own place.” 

“Each negotiation is in its own place,” Jones said, via Clarence E. Hill of the Star-Telegram. “If we could get Dak done today, we would. If we could get Amari Cooper done today, we would. I wouldn’t necessarily say one has to come before the other. We’ll just see how each of those negotiations proceed.”

Hill, citing a source, reports that the Cowboys have not started negotiations for Prescott or Cooper, but deals for these two could come after the 2019 NFL Draft or by OTAs in May.

Jason Witten

Cowboys HC Jason Garrett said the team plans to limit veteran TE Jason Witten and focus on developing their younger tight ends on the roster in 2019. 

“Having said that, we have a couple of young tight ends who emerged last year and started playing better and better as the year went on. We feel like those guys will have a role for us. All of that stuff will be fleshed out as we get going, but suffice it to say we’re really excited he’s back. We’re excited about the development of those young guys and how that tight end group is going to be,” said Garrett, via ProFootballTalk.

Garrett added that Witten understands he must be limited in games and take off “a practice in training camp” now that he is 37-years old.  

“He’s a complete tight end; he can play every down; he can really do everything you want a tight end to do. He can play on the ball; he can play off the ball. We’ve used him where he’s coming out of the backfield as a blocker, as a receiver. We’ve used him in the slot. We’ve used him outside. All of those things he’s been able to do throughout his career. I think, to answer your question, I think over the last couple years, as you get into Year 14, 15, I think he recognizes the importance of being able to take a practice off in training camp, and I think the same thing applies to how we would use him in a game right now.”