The Dallas Cowboys are set to kick off their 2024 season on Sunday at 3:25 CST on the road against the Cleveland Browns. It will also mark the beginning of a make-or-break year for the franchise, whose future is far from certain and will undoubtedly depend on how far they can go this year.
Head coach Mike McCarthy, for example, was not given a contract extension following the 2023 NFL season even though he is entering the final year of his deal. Despite back-to-back-to-back seasons with a 12-5 record, the Cowboys are just 1-3 in the NFL Playoffs during his tenure. For a team that is starved for postseason success, that simply is not good enough.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, too, is entering the final year of his current contract and has not [yet] been given an extension offer that he feels is acceptable.
The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott Have Seen the Quarterback Market Explode This Offseason
Once the Cowboys were eliminated from the NFL Playoffs in embarrassing fashion by the Green Bay Packers, it was well-known that the team wanted to extend Prescott. However, it was also an accepted fact league-wide that the price to do so would be high.
Throughout the course of the NFL offseason, four different quarterbacks signed contract extensions worth $53 million a season or more. Jordan Love of the Packers and Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars signed deals worth $55 million a year, while Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions got $53 million annually and Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins got $53.1 million.
Prescott is presumed to be asking for more than $55 million a year, which would make him the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history.
And while the extension has not been completed yet, both sides truly desire to get it done. For Prescott, there is really one reason why he is so motivated to re-sign with Dallas instead of testing free agency.
Dak Prescott Would Rater Win with the Dallas Cowboys than with Anyone Else
During his media availability on Thursday, Prescott was asked what it would mean for him to win a Super Bowl with the Cowboys. According to Jon Machota of The Athletic, Prescott replied, “That’s what motivates me on being here, honestly, is to be the quarterback that does it, that wins it. I don’t think that winning it any other place would be the same as winning it here. That’s A-No. 1 why I want to be here, to be honest with you.”
The last Cowboys quarterback to lead Dallas to the Super Bowl was Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman in 1995. Since then, the Cowboys have not even made it to the NFC Championship Game.
It is clear that creating a championship legacy is important to Prescott. He obviously does not really want to play anywhere else than with the only NFL team he has ever suited up for.
Hopefully he will get that long-expected extension soon.
