Is this Dak Prescott's last ride with the Cowboys? | Inside Coverage

Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz, senior NFL writer Jori Epstein, and senior NFL reporter Charles Robinson discuss whether the Dallas Cowboys just showed their hand on whether Dak Prescott will be back with the team after the 2024 season. Hear the full conversation on “Inside Coverage” - part of the “Zero Blitz” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

JASON FITZ: Jerry Jones said at the owner meetings, "We are where we are, locked and loaded for this year." Everybody seems to be really concerned about the fact that there's not a long term deal for Dak in place. Jori, you were down there. I know you looked at this a lot. What's your sense around what's going on with the Cowboys and Dak?

JORI EPSTEIN: Yeah. I think what's crazy is we have seen the Cowboys do this before with a lot of players, including Dak. They let him hit the franchise tag. They let him play out that year and tag. We were on the cusp of a second tag year with free agency when they got that deal done, which, by the way, he got four years, $160 million, which he's pretty much going to make.

I also think that this is still even more dangerous what they're doing now because at that point, they could franchise tag him. They do not have the control after this season. Like, I don't know that everybody realizes that. For sure, like the rabid Cowboys fans, but I don't know if all NFL fans realize Dak has in his contract no tag, no trade. He cannot be tagged again. They cannot say you have to play for us in 2025. They can pay him a gazillion dollars, but it's not a matter of getting the negotiation done or him holding out. He can leave.

Now, does he want to leave? He'll have to decide that. If you want to see think about whether he could leave, I think you should look at what Kirk Cousins just did. Kirk Cousins had a great play-caller in Kevin O'Connell. Kirk Cousins had a great receiver in Justin Jefferson, great defense supporting him. But there were a lot of reasons why Kirk Cousins, it would have been very easy.

And not like just mailing it in. Like, he wouldn't have been he stayed in Minnesota, but he said I want the money. I want a contract that reflects what I can do. And not only do I want the guarantees for the financial purposes, I want the guarantees because the more a team is committed to guaranteeing you money for multiple years, the more they are committed to starting you for multiple years.

But I think that the Cowboys kind of realize how much leverage he has they would be making-- they know if they sign him to a deal now, they're going to have to pay him a ton because he has so much leverage, and he knows he'll probably have even more leverage next year. So it's kind of this like weird chicken and egg game.

CHARLES ROBINSON: You can pick your team. And here's the very problematic thing for Dallas, they just flew the flag for Dak. Every team that's sitting there going, hm, OK, this could affect our quarterback plans in 2024 because we know, hey, if we strikeout-- if I'm Sean Payton and I'm sitting there going didn't have the ammunition to move up, don't really like the quarterbacks we're going to have, let's rock it with Jarrett Stidham for a year, and then let's go pay Dak in 2025 and our team will be pretty good at that point.

I thought back to a conversation I had with one of Dak's guys last offseason, and he said to me, he's like, oh no, we're good. Like, we're good. Like, we're on the same page know, blah, blah, blah. We're good. And at the time I thought, oh, OK, so it's going to get done when it needs to get done, both sides. No. I think what he was saying to me is we're good whether they do the deal or not.