Could Dallas Cowboys & Dak Prescott Change On Contract? Or 'Locked And Loaded' Jerry Jones Stuck?

The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott aren't forwarding any contract talks right now, but owner Jerry Jones says the franchise is locked and loaded with Dak in 2024.

Dallas Cowboys v San Francisco 49ers / Thearon W. Henderson/GettyImages

Dak Prescott's contract situation with the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones has been making headlines for months, and with the latest development being that there won't be an extension any time soon, things are looking rather intriguing for the 2024 season.

With Dak's huge $55 million cap hit, the thought was there would be an extension for Prescott to bring down that number, and also help the Cowboys add free agency pieces to help get the team over their playoff hump.

But alas, it seems that there will be a lot riding on the 2024 season with coaches, and now Dak entering a lame-duck year. As for Jerry Jones, he knows that Prescott wants to anything he can to help the team in 2024, while not completely shutting the door on an extension down the road.

“Dak wants to do anything and everything he can on and off the field to help us win,” Jones said recently. “So we are where we are, we have our contract, we’re locked and loaded for this year, and we can see as we move along how we are thinking, we, inclusive of everybody here, us, Dak, and we’ll see what we do.”

Dallas Cowboys v San Francisco 49ers / Thearon W. Henderson/GettyImages

With the "blow it up" scenario now feeling more real than ever, if we look into this Jerry word salad as our own Mike Fisher calls it, there's a little nugget of information from Jones.

He states that "we" are locked and loaded for "this year." ... though it is worth noting that after his declarative statement, others inside The Star shifted into "damage-control mode.'' And that's when you saw a dozen quickly-written "sourced'' stories about how the Cowboys still want to do the extension - the exaxt opposite of what Jones had just announced.

That could hint that Jerry is indeed "all in'' (those now infamous words) on the 2024 season and doesn't seem to be worried about what could transpire after, which could be a complete rebuild with several of Dallas' veteran stars also coming out of contract.

While the door isn't closed on Dak and the Cowboys eventually agreeing to a new contract during the season, not getting it done weeks ago has seriously limited the team's ability to improve the roster.

So if Jerry is using this season as a gauge in determining how much to pay Prescott based on his play, he hasn't exactly given his Pro Bowl quarterback the best help to do it. His offensive line (sacked 39 times in 2023, second-most of his career) has been ravaged and he doesn't have a No. 1 running back and a WR3 with Michael Gallup set to be cut.

It wouldn't be an offseason without some Cowboys drama and based off how the last couple of weeks have played out and with the current shape of the roster, this drama will last long into the season.

And for a team that needs limited distractions, that is far from ideal. And the worst part? It's all their own doing.