FRISCO — Dak Prescott comfortably fielded questions on a wide range of topics, starting with the return of his good friend to the team, what he thought about the Cowboys draft and the early weeks of fatherhood.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) walks to the locker room following their Wild Card Playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, January 14, 2024. The Cowboys lost, 48-32.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)
You’ll be happy to hear that everyone in the household is sleeping through the night.
But it’s impossible to dive too deep into the state of the Cowboys and all things Dak these days without, you know, The Question. That came midway through his interview with reporters at Riders Field during the Reliant Home Run Derby for charity.
Any progress made in his discussions about an extension?
He paused for a moment and smiled.
“Not necessarily,” Prescott said. “Obviously still conversations. Aware of what Jerry (Jones) said and everything he said is dead on, communication has been back and forth.
“But yeah.”
What else is there to say? Prescott has made it clear he wants to remain the quarterback of the Cowboys. Jones has said that’s his intention.
And yet here he is in the final year of his contract. If the two sides couldn’t hammer something by early March — where the reduction of his salary cap hit for the upcoming season would have allowed the club to take its customary approach to free agency — there’s no pressure at this moment to get it done.
The next pressure point is the start of the regular season.
The offseason is about putting the building blocks in place to make a successful run once the regular season is underway. Prescott obviously praised the return of Ezekiel Elliott and expressed more faith in the running back room than those outside of the organization possess.
“Yeah, a lot of faith,” Prescott said. “You add a guy like Zeke to a room that has a lot of depth in that sense. Obviously it’s a younger group with experience, but I think that’s the benefit of adding a guy like Zeke, what he can bring to that, what he can just give those guys for their careers and the way that they can approach it.
“That’s going to speed the process up for them and make them that much better and quicker getting on the field to help this team.”
And what about a draft class that saw the club take a first round draft pick and turn it into two offensive linemen — Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe — who could start from Day 1?
“You get excited,” Prescott said. “You see a guy like Tyler Guyton, see how big he is, excited, right, to add that. Get him in there with those other guys, Zack Martin, guys for him to follow.
“Excited for that, as well as Beebe. I mean, you go get another guy in the third round that can help us.
“I thought it was a good draft. We definitely handled the things that we needed to.”
Now, about that extension …
Catch David Moore on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) periodically throughout the offseason.