What Does Jerry Jones' Yacht Have To Do With Dak Prescott's Cowboys Contract?
FRISCO - When it comes to NFL contract negotiations, some in the media tend to "pick a side,'' and then to portray "their side'' as the "good guys'' and the other side as the "bad guys.'' In fact, of course, owners' negotiations with star players are really mostly about both existing on the same side.
And yes, we're including the stalemate involving the Dallas Cowboys and QB Dak Prescott in that category. Dak has made noises about not showing up for spring workouts in the almost inevitable event that the franchise tag is used ... but it's not spring yet. And he's made louder noises about the confidence he has that the Jones family will work with him to make him the highest-paid player in franchise history.
"He deserves everything that he has coming,'' Stephen recently said. ""He's got the 'It Factor' ... "I'll take him any time, when you go to war against these (other teams).''
Meanwhile, Jerry and Stephen may be "low-balling'' Prescott behind closed doors (though the $35 million APY deal that was almost done last September didn't seem to us at the time to be "low-balling'' at all.
But in public? They've raved about the brilliance of their franchise QB, Jerry even at times making comparisons of Dak to the likes of Tom Brady and Troy Aikman.
The most noticeable wedge, unfortunately, is sometimes the one we create. "Jerry's cheap!'' "Dak's greedy!'' That sort of thing. And now along comes Pro Football Talk, which has "heard about'' the opulence of Jerry Jones' ... yacht and attempts to correlate it to the Prescott contract dealings.
"I’ve heard multiple stories this weekend regarding the sheer and utter excess and opulence of Jerry Jones’ yacht,'' tweets Mike Florio of PFT, "and my reaction is this: Do not flinch, blink, or cave in your demands, Dak.''
We’ll work on the assumption that PFT is trying to be clever or snarky or something here, as we refuse to believe that it is unaware of the fact that the NFL does not have a salary cap on boats.
We also work on the assumption that PFT understands the business-world relationship that exists between all owners of any company and even their most valued employees: the owner (of the Cowboys and even of Pro Football Talk) makes more money than his employees.
In the end, the Jones family will figure out a way to pay Dak Prescott. A lot. At which time the QB can go buy his own yacht.