The raise for and vote of confidence in Prescott is well deserved. The 31-year-old signal-caller is coming off a career year, in which he led the league with 410 completions and 36 touchdowns and finished second in MVP voting. Prescott’s marked improvement from the 2022 season, when he played just 12 games but still paced the NFL with 15 interceptions, proved that the QB was getting better with age, a pillar to still build around rather than one to abandon.
By signing Prescott before he was slated to hit unfettered free agency in 2025, Dallas avoided their franchise QB reaching the market with unheard-of leverage. In addition to his no-trade clause, Prescott benefitted in negotiations from having already been franchise-tagged twice. If Dallas was to tag him a third time, they would have owed Prescott upwards of $80 million, a prohibitive number even for the cash-rich Cowboys.
Sunday’s news ends an offseason of consternation for Jerry Jones and the ‘Boys, who from the start of training camp faced questions about the future of Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons in Big D. Jones was quite confident all summer about the state of his big stars at The Star, telling reporters he was embracing the “ambiguity” of Dallas’ good problem. The Cowboys owner said late last month that the team didn’t need to get Dak’s deal done before the start of the 2024 season, but Sunday’s soft deadline spurred action.
For now, the Cowboys can say with confidence they’re finally and truly “all in” — on Prescott, their quarterback of the present and future.
