Jerry Jones on Dak Prescott talks: “We moved that needle in a positive direction this week”

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The bye week provided the best in-season opportunity to extend the contract of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. It didn’t happen.

But that doesn’t mean nothing happened. In his weekly Friday appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones suggested that progress was made since the team last played, 12 days ago.

“I always think that there is movement one way or the other even though there isn’t a technical movement,” Jones said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I think we moved that needle in a positive direction this week.”

There’s a big difference, of course, between moving the needle and getting a deal done, especially since the guy who is claiming that the needle is moving said nearly two months ago that a new deal was imminent.

Barring something dramatic, it’s not imminent. Barring something dramatic, it’s not happening until after the season, at the earliest.

Even then, it won’t be easy. Once Prescott sheds the injury risk, he holds all the cards — especially since the Cowboys eventually will have to choose between using the non-exclusive or exclusive version of the franchise tag.

The stakes will be very high, and Prescott will have tons of leverage. Barring a long-term deal based on the value of the exclusive tag, Prescott will have no incentive to budge. And if the Cowboys opt to simply rely on the franchise tag, the Cowboys will have to hope that Prescott will choose to sign it and show up for the offseason program, training camp, and the preseason.

Prescott could indeed choose to adopt the Kirk Cousins approach, with a twist (of the knife). Cousins gladly accepted franchise tenders from Washington, and he participated fully in all football activities before the start of the regular season. What if Prescott decides to take a Le'Veon Bell approach to the tag?

Good luck getting a football team ready for football season without its starting quarterback.

There’s only one way to avoid a scenario that could lead to quarterback doomsday. Unless the Cowboys are willing to roll the dice on a Plan B at the position, they’ll eventually have to pay Prescott more than they ever wanted to pay him.