Dallas Cowboys: Real Dak Prescott negotiations haven’t started

The Dallas Cowboys have yet to make a real effort in offing a multiyear deal for Dak Prescott

Sources have indicated the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott are “not close” in coming to an agreement on a new multiyear deal. And with the July 15th deadline looming, panic is understandably befalling Cowboys Nation.

But one only needs to look back at the Dallas Cowboys history of doing things to understand the real negotiating has yet to commence and the source who’s spreading the gloom and doom, could very well be an inside operative making a calculated move.

Let’s be clear right now – I do not have an inside source at The Star, and even if I did, I’m not in the business of breaking news stories and have zero desire to do so. What I seek to do here is explain the Dallas Cowboys track record of contract negotiations is consistent. And it probably tells us all we need to know about what’s going on.

This spring I discussed this very topic: The draft was coming up, fans were getting impatient regarding Dak’s uncertain status, and The Star in Frisco was popping more leaks than a garage sale air mattress. But even then it was clear what was happening…

In the article above I outlined Stephen Jones’ history of waiting until the 11th hour. Ezekiel Elliott, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dez Bryant, and Amari Cooper all recently went to the final minutes to find agreement (and Cooper even went after the deadline).

This offseason the Dallas Cowboys admitted as much when they said they didn’t even make an offer since before the 2019 season. While Cowboys Nation was fretting each week about the deal, the Dallas Cowboys front office wasn’t even making offers.

The Joneses take the mantra, “deadlines make deals” to the next level and are probably not planning to make their real offer until Wednesday. As such, the idea that both sides aren’t very close doesn’t seem all that surprising. Both sides are still flexing.

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In fact, the report that things aren’t close sounds a lot like something the Joneses would leak on purpose. Just like the article I linked above, the Dallas Cowboys have a history of leaking exactly what they want to leak, when they want to leak it. Indicating things are bad could be a way to incite the fanbase against Dak Prescott and/or let Prescott’s side think the Cowboys aren’t optimistic given his agent’s demands. All of this would be par for the course if you’ve been a Dallas Cowboys fan the past few decades.

None of this is to say a deal is imminent either. We don’t know how far either side is willing to bend so we can’t thoughtfully speculate at this point. What we do know is the Cowboys aren’t going to show their hand until the end and there’s no sense stressing about this whole thing until that moment.

The next 30 hours are going to tell us a lot about the future of the Dallas Cowboys. If Dak Prescott doesn’t get signed to a multiyear deal by the deadline, it’s the beginning of the end for Dak in Dallas and this team will be positioned to rebuild in 2-years (because you need a franchise QB in today’s NFL).

If Dak does get signed to a multi-year deal, then the sky is the limit for this team. They will be built to compete throughout and they can even move cash back a little to add a new part or two.

The time to panic has not yet arrived. The deadline is close but it’s not quite here. The Dallas Cowboys have a history of waiting until the final moment to make a reasonable offer and chances are that’s exactly what they’re doing here.

• Published on 07/14/2020 at 11:01 AM
• Last updated at 07/13/2020 at 13:04 PM