Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott says he has stopped listening to team owner Jerry Jones’ media comments during his ongoing contract negotiations.
“I stopped, honestly, listening to things (Jerry Jones) says to the media a long time ago. It doesn’t really hold weight with me,” Prescott said, per Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.
Prescott then laughed, as did media members listening, per Watkins.
Prescott’s response comes the day after Jones responded to a reporter’s question as to what more he needed to see before extending Prescott.
“You could easily say, if you haven’t seen it by now, you haven’t seen it,” Jones answered, per The Athletic’s Jon Machota.
Prescott is currently set to start Week 1 earning $29 million on the final year of his contract, per Spotrac.
Things aren’t looking so good between Jerry Jones and Dak ahead of Prescott’s expected extension đ pic.twitter.com/RH0QJ0hDkF
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 29, 2024
Jones went on to say that he “quit a long time ago getting bent out of shape about having anybody under contract or not.”
“There are all kinds of things other than a contract that could change the outcome of him being under contract: injury, level of play,” Jones said. “So you can’t just pick that and say that should give you a better feeling about our team or me a better feeling.”
Prescott unsurprisingly expressed a different outlook on the situation. He indicated to reporters that he would play in the regular season without a deal, but whether it was done before Week 1 “says a lot,” per Machota.
When asked what it would say if he remained unsigned before Week 1, Prescott answered, “Just how people feel.”
This is not the first time a Cowboys player has publicly expressed discontent with Jones’ comments on contract negotiations.
When Jones said earlier this month that he didn’t “have any urgency” to agree to a new deal with CeeDee Lamb, the wide receiver responded to the comment on X with only, “lol.”
— CeeDee Lamb (@_CeeDeeThree) August 8, 2024
Just under three weeks later, it was reported that the Cowboys had agreed to a four-year, $136 million extension with Lamb.
The deal set a wide receiver record with a $38 million signing bonus, and ranks just behind the Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson’s position-record annual salary of $35 million per year.
The Cowboys have plenty of motivation to reach agreement with Prescott next. The quarterback cannot be franchise tagged, and if he walks in 2025 the Cowboys will be forced to spend over $40 million in dead cap on his void salary.
The Cowboys have ten days to finalize an extension, or risk Prescott deciding to test free agency in a bid to potentially become the NFL’s first quarterback to receive a salary of more than $55 million per year next season, before the regular season opens Sept. 8 at the Cleveland Browns.