After a lengthy negotiation that ran right up until the start of the 2024 season, Dak Prescott cashed in on his second mega-contract with the Dallas Cowboys, one that will pay him $240 million over four years with $231 guaranteed. The deal came after the Cowboys paid another top-of-market extension to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, worth $136 million over four years.
Once again, Dallas is embroiled in lengthy contract talks with a homegrown star. Linebacker Micah Parsons is due for a deal that will likely put him in contention to become the highest-paid defender in NFL history.
Other teams shoot to lock up similar players early—a notable example being the Cowboys’ division rival Philadelphia Eagles, who just won the Super Bowl with perhaps the NFL’s most talented roster. Others around the league have taken notice, with the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow—someone whose own team had some serious in-house business to complete this offseason—openly calling for his team to do the same. The Buffalo Bills recently got ahead of things by extending quarterback Josh Allen early, and the Baltimore Ravens signal that they plan to follow suit with Lamar Jackson.
Dallas co-owner Stephen Jones, son of Jerry Jones, was asked about the team’s negotiation strategy and maintained that he is not worried about the team’s penchant for waiting.
“We’ve done the early before, and we’ve waited until the end to do them,” Jones said, per ESPN. “A lot of it is just the negotiation itself. Some of them take longer than others. And we put about zero credibility or credence into people saying you wait too long.”
Ultimately, it takes two sides to reach an early deal, and some players may choose to bet on themselves and try to cash in at the height of their earning potential. However, other teams have seemed to figure out a way to keep their cores together without putting their future salary cap situations in jeopardy.
