Dallas Cowboys training camp begins almost a week from now and quarterback Dak Prescott has yet to receive a contract extension. And it sure doesn't sound like things are heating up just yet.
In the meantime, fans and media continue to debate just how good Prescott is and whether or not he deserves to be the highest-paid quarterback of all time, which is likely what it would take to reach a deal with the Cowboys quarterback given the leverage he holds. Such a debate was recently reignited by ESPN's quarterbacks rankings, in which no coach, exec, or scout voted him as a Top 6 QB.
Most recently, five-time Super Bowl champion and one of the greatest Cowboys of all time, Charles Haley, chimed in without holding back on how Jerry Jones has handled the situation.
"(Jerry Jones) kept back loading everything," Haley told the Up & Adams Show hosted by Kay Adams. "So now he's screwed, now the bill came due and he doesn't have the money to be able to do that. What he's gonna have to do is gonna have to find another way around the salary cap or push a lot of older guys' salary cap (hits) way back, and you don't know what these guys are going to play, one year or two years, and then all of it will come due again."
The numbers sure back up what Haley is saying as quarterback prices have steadily gone up each and every year. And while some consistently argue that it's the same to pay him late or early, the reality is the teams that find a way to stay ahead of the salary cap is those who get deals done early in order to structure the cap hits in a more efficient and creative ways (see the ridiculous Jalen Hurts deal, for instance, who won't occupy more than $25M in cap space until 2026).
The Cowboys waited until now, and they don't have any leverage to negotiate with Prescott, who has a one-way ticket to 2025 free agency, where a potential bidding war could make him the first $60M per year quarterback, if it comes to that.
"So he gambled a long time and now time is up," Haley added on the show. "I could tell you this, trade Dak. Just put him up for trade Guess what? Every team in league will be after him. Every team in the league. Dak is a winner. Dak is a great person, a great leader. I know, I go up there all the time (...) How do you not keep (Dak and CeeDee Lamb) together?"
While Prescott has a no trade clause and it would be much too late to make a deal make sense in order for him to waive it, Haley's hypothetical makes a strong case: Perhaps not 32 teams would be after Dak, but there would be no shortage of teams ready to pay a king's ransom for the runner up to last season's MVP Lamar Jackson.
Not only would QB-needy teams be after him but even teams that could perceive him as an upgrade over their current situation. Teams ranging from the New York Giants to the Las Vegas Raiders and heck, even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would make sense even after paying Baker Mayfield. Only a handful of squads with top-tier QBs like the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals, to mention a few, would not pick up the phone.
As much as the Jones family wants to play it off as them being in control, the truth is they've messed up their handling of the Dak Prescott negotiations. And Haley isn't afraid to say it.
