Dak Prescott throws haymaker at Jerry Jones over Cowboys drama

Did you hear that? Like a whisper on the wind, a steady hum in the distance. No? Neither did Dak Prescott.

The Dallas Cowboys' offseason has been quite the experience for those close to the franchise. Jerry Jones, in standard Jerry Jones fashion, has milked two major contract negotiations for all they're worth. He basically told CeeDee Lamb there wasn't any pressure to sign him, then handed out the second-biggest contract in the history of Lamb's position.

Next on the docket is Dak Prescott, who could very well get the largest contract... ever. Some are speculating that his eventual AAV could land over $60 million, which would put the reigning MVP runner-up in rarified air.

For now, however, we are stuck listening to Jerry Jones pontificate about the nature of contract negotiations and the state of the Cowboys' roster, which he insists is more complicated than it seems.

"I quit a long time ago getting bent out of shape about having anybody under contract or not," Jones told reporters. "There are all kinds of things other than a contract that could change the outcome of him being under contract: injury, level of play. So you can’t just pick that and say that should give you a better feeling about our team or me a better feeling. The whole thing has a lot of moving parts. Now, I can live with that … because we play a game that it can change on the next play.”

And sure, the Cowboys have a lot of contracts to juggle, and Prescott landing $60 million annually could backfire. But, in the current marketplace, there are two options. Pay Prescott and keep your Pro Bowl quarterback, or let him walk in a year and start over with, like, Trey Lance.

For his part, Prescott isn't pressed about what Jones is telling the media. We can all learn something from Prescott's attitude here.

"I stopped, honestly, listening to things (Jerry Jones) says to the media a long time ago. It doesn’t really hold weight with me."

Dak Prescott suplexes Jerry Jones at podium as Cowboys contract drama intensifies

Great stuff from Dak. We should probably collectively pay less attention to what Jones says in the media. It's hard when he exerts basically unchecked control over Dallas' personnel and business operations — he is the owner, after all — but how much have we really gleamed from Jones' media tour this summer? He wasn't under pressure to sign CeeDee, but he still gave the wideout $136 million to avoid a protracted holdout. Hmmmmm.

Prescott is the last quarterback due for a big-money extension this offseason. Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love both tied for the largest annual contracts in NFL history, which is a sign of where the market is at this point. With all due respect to Love, who looked awesome for about half of his first season at the helm in Green Bay, proof of concept is hardly a prerequisite for historic QB contracts these days. Are we sure Trevor Lawrence is even that good?

We can probably pinpoint at least 10 teams that would hand Prescott the largest contract in NFL history this afternoon. He's going to make a competitive free agent bid if the Cowboys don't pony up. There is some justification to not wanting to spend such a hefty chunk of change on Prescott, but there just isn't a viable alternative. The Cowboys won't have a high draft pick to replace Prescott and the 2025 free agent class at the position isn't stocked with affordable alternatives. The Cowboys can't really justify not re-upping Prescott's deal and biting the bullet financially.

That won't prevent Jones from continuing to dawdle as the regular season approaches. Prescott hasn't made life difficult in Dallas, unlike his WR counterparts around the league, so there is less immediate pressure on the Cowboys front office. In time, however, there will be fallout if Dallas doesn't get serious about its offers.