Cowboys VP Stephen Jones: Contract Talks “Fixing To Heat Up” With Dak Prescott

Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones said Thursday that they want to get a long-term deal done with QB Dak Prescott and he believes “things are fixing to heat up.”

“We want to get this done,” Jones said, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Things are fixing to heat up. We want to put every foot forward and try to grind this out and get a deal done.”

Jones says they’ve offered Prescott “significant money” even though there’s agreement on the horizon. 

“I don’t want to get into the details, but we have offered him significant money,” Jones said. “The money we have offered Dak no matter how you look at it would put him as a top five quarterback in the NFL. That is the way we feel about him. He is one of the best.”

While the Cowboys know they’re going to have to pay up to keep Prescott, Jones stressed the importance of ensuring they can keep other players. 

“Certainly, at the end of the day, we want him to get what he’s got coming,” Jones said. “At the same time and he understands we want to keep as many guys as we can and do what gives us the best opportunity to win a Super Bowl. So that’s the line you walk there … We want to get him signed. We think the world of him.”

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported earlier in the week that the Cowboys are likely to use their franchise tag on Prescott this offseason, as there’s no long-term agreement in sight.

In fact, Schefter said the franchise tag looks “inevitable” for Prescott, even though both sides would prefer to get a deal in place. According to Schefter, the Cowboys will continue to push to sign Prescott to an extension in the coming weeks.

Dallas and Prescott are reportedly at an impasse over his value. Contract negotiations have been going on for months and it appears as though they’re still nowhere close to an agreement.

Even so, Prescott recently said he’s confident they’ll be able to get an extension done this offseason.

“There’s a lot of things that have to come into play when you’re talking about a contract,” Prescott said. “Never just look at the money, never just look at what people see or the attention-grabber. There’s a lot of details to it. There’s people that know that handle that, so I’m leaving that up to my agent and I have all the confidence in both sides.”

Prescott, 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2016. He’s entering the final year of his four-year, $2.72 million contract and is in line to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

In 2019, Prescott appeared in all 16 games and completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,902 yards, 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He has also rushed for 277 yards and three touchdowns for Dallas. Pro Football Focus rated him as the No. 10 quarterback out of 37 qualifying players.

We have him included in our Top 100 – 2020 Free Agents list.