Dak & Cowboys Contract Status: ‘Good Talks,’ ‘Progress’ & ‘No Animosity’

With a deadline looming, the present temperature of the Prescott/Cowboys talks seems to be in a comfortable place.

FRISCO - Attempting to offer a true blow-by-blow description of a critical NFL contract negotiation is a media challenge. Indeed, if we turn back the clock all the way to September 2019, when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told us a new Dak Prescott contract was “imminent,” it is made clear that sometimes, not even the people sitting right there at the negotiating table can accurately provide that blow-by-blow.

Having cautioned with that reminder ...

The present temperature of these talks seems to be in a comfortable place.

“Good talks,” a source tells NFL Network’s Jane Slater.

Discussions are “more productive than they have been” in previous months, a source tells Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News.

“No animosity,” a source tells CowboysSI.com.

Is this encouraging news on the Prescott contract talk front? It beats some of the alternatives. It means that agent Todd France and key Cowboys figures including COO Stephen Jones are talking. It helps that the star quarterback is here at The Star on a regular basis, rehabbing with Cowboys trainers. (And that the rehab is going well. See below.)

READ MORE: Dak EXCLUSIVE: Cowboys QB Could Be '100% By April'

READ MORE: Dak Wants Cowboys To Pay Him 'Right Behind Mahomes - And Wants 'Respect'

It helps if concerns about “respect” are smoothed and that an understanding about the coming March 9 tag deadline is shared.

Ultimately that deadline may arrive and at least as a placeholder while talks continue, Dallas will be committed to paying Prescott $37.7 million in 2021. (In theory, the Cowboys could use the “non-exclusive” tag that allows the player to sign an offer sheet with another team, with the original team having the right to match the offer or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation. .. a discussion for another day.)

But talks continuing then is for later. The Cowboys and Prescott’s side talking now is about urgency ... and, it seems, about a comfortable temperature level having been set in the negotiating room.