Cowboys reportedly prioritizing CeeDee Lamb's contract over Dak Prescott's

Veterans and rookies on the Dallas Cowboys report to training camp in Oxnard, Calif. on Wednesday, July 24. While the team will be focusing on making it back to a Super Bowl for the first time since the 1995 season, all the attention will be focused on the contract negotiations with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

The Cowboys were unable to reach agreements in the past year, and have seen the quarterback and wide receiver markets skyrocket. Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is earning $55 million per year, tied with Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals for highest annual salary among quarterbacks. Meanwhile, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is making $35 million per yearr on his new deal. With that, the price to retain Prescott and Lamb just got a lot more expensive for the Cowboys.

So, who will team owner Jerry Jones prioritize signing first?

According to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News (subscription required), the Cowboys are expected to make Lamb their "No. 1 priority" over Prescott in regard to contract negotiations. This comes with the expectation of Lamb holding out of the start of training camp.

"The Cowboys want Lamb in camp, but the talks, slow as they’ve been, could pick up once the team arrives in California," writes Watkins.

Cowboys prioritizing locking in CeeDee Lamb before Dak Prescott

Lamb has been a holdout for the Cowboys this entire offseason. The wide receiver wasn't at organized team activities (OTAs), which are optional, and was notably absent at mandatory minicamp. Now, it appears the Cowboys want to negotiate and finalize a deal with Lamb first before working on Prescott's contract.

Speaking of Prescott, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler noted during a recent appearance on SportsCenter that the Cowboys "made clear to the player privately" that they want to extend Prescott. However Fowler says there hasn't been much progress in negotiations between the team and quarterback.

"Here's a little bit of a wrinkle," Fowler said, h/t Bleacher Report. "You still have Tua Tagovailoa in Miami who needs to get a deal done. You still have Jordan Love in Green Bay who needs to get a deal done. Dak Prescott has the most leverage of those three, so he very well could be waiting for those two to go first and then he bats clean up with a huge deal that could be a market resetter."

As Fowler says Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love are quarterbacks entering the final year of their current contracts, and could cash in before the start of the season. With the price of signal callers increasing, Prescott could cash in and potentially make more than both. After all, Prescott is coming off a strong season in which he finished second in NFL MVP voting.

With Prescott on the final year of his current deal, he does have a no-franchise tag clause. So if the Cowboys don't reach an agreement with Prescott before the start of the 2025 league year, then the quarterback will hit the open market.

The Cowboys have to figure out how to secure two of their best players on new contract. But when it comes to which player they want to strike a deal with first, it appears to be Lamb.