Dak Prescott should send a fruit basket to Jared Goff. Or maybe an entire orchard.
Goff’s new contract, averaging $53 million per year, will give Prescott even more leverage in his effort to land his third contract with the Dallas Cowboys.
Prescott already had plenty of leverage, thanks to a $55 million-plus cap hit this year and a direct line to free agency in 2025. The Goff deal gives Prescott even more reason to buckle down and push for more than anything. that the Cowboys were willing to pay.
And it proves once again that waiting is almost always a team mistake. In almost all cases, the passage of time makes the business more expensive. Only a really serious injury or drastic drop in performance will work to a team’s advantage when they falter.
The Cowboys have a bad habit of taking their time when it comes to contracts for key young players. They did it with Dak starting in 2019. They did it with running back Ezekiel Elliott, who held out for much of his fourth training camp. They’re doing it with receiver CeeDee Lamb and Dak for the second time. And they will very possibly do that with linebacker Micah Parsons.
Who knows? Maybe the Cowboys will let Dak hit the open market, challenging him to find a better deal elsewhere. Maybe he will. Regardless, the Goff deal makes it reasonable for Prescott to dig deeper. The only question is whether the Cowboys will give up and let Dak see what’s out there, hoping he ends up accepting their best offer – and refusing to give him a contract with a value starting at six.
