Cowboys remain confident of long-term deal with Dak Prescott

[Rowdy]

Getty Images

Dak Prescott will receive $31.4 million under the franchise tag in 2020. The Cowboys still plan to sign the quarterback to a long-term deal.

But after more than a year of negotiations, the sides have not come to an agreement and Prescott has not signed his franchise tag. So where do they stand now?

The Cowboys have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal, but they have rarely if ever lost a player they really wanted to keep. (See Cooper, Amari. See Lawrence, DeMarcus. See Bryant, Dez.)

That’s why owner Jerry Jones doesn’t appear to be sweating it.

“I don’t have a time frame,” Jones said during a conference call Tuesday. “It’s not in a list of priorities as you could imagine with everything that we all are dealing with as well as what we’re doing with the draft. I don’t have the time frame, but I’m not concerned about that at all as to any of those issues. Again, no surprises here. No surprise on the amount that the franchise counts against the [cap], and no surprise we’re sitting here relative to where we are without a long-term agreement. What is the issue here and the challenge is how do we have communication with everyone and do the best we can with what we’ve got and what the league is doing as it pertains to getting our team ready. Dak is very much a part of that.”

New Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was evasive when asked about Prescott’s participation in the virtual offseason program that began Monday. But he stressed the sessions are voluntary, indicating Prescott is not participating, as PFT reported last week would happen.

“He’s going to be our starting quarterback,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “Obviously, he’s franchised, and our bigger goal is to get him signed long term, and we think we can do that.”