Cowboys Contracts: Jimmy Reveals Thoughts On Dak Dealings

'He's an outstanding quarterback and is a great leader,' says Jimmy Johnson. 'They need to get (Dak) signed'

FRISCO - There can be a smart tendency, when surveying Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Johnson's comments on Dallas Cowboys management moves, to take his comments with a shaker full of salt.

But the former Cowboys coach, now a FOX commentator, sounded in fact when he urges owner Jerry Jones team to "get (Dak Prescott) signed.''

“They need to get him signed,” Johnson said on The Rich Eisen Show on Friday. “They should have given in to the four-year deal last year. Would have saved them some money. They wanted five years. ... “They should have signed him three years ago. They should have signed him two years ago. They should have signed him last offseason. And every time they did not sign him, the price just kept going up. But they need to get it done.”

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Johnson is well-aware that it takes two to tango, and that Dak's side, driven by agent Todd France, might've been something less than cooperative in this process. Nevertheless, Jerry and Stephen Jones have for two-and-a-half years called re-upping Dak "our top priority.''

Therefore, failure to achieve "our top priority'' is ... well, a failure.

As CowboysSI.com reported exclusively last fall, Dallas thought it had a deal when it offered a five-year, $175 million ($35 mil APY) contract featuring almost $110 million guaranteed. Prescott eventually turned it down, once again "betting on himself.'' And now, as Johnson notes, the coming APY might be $40 million.

In the meantime, Dallas had to tag Prescott at $31.4 million last year, and if a new deal isn't reached for 2021, will have to tag him again at $37.7 million. Johnson obviously thinks Dak is worth much, much more than all that - and not worth the trouble of any dispute.

"Not only is he an outstanding quarterback - he’s not Patrick Mahomes, but he is an outstanding quarterback - but on top of that, he is a great leader,'' said Johnson, the co-architect of the Cowboys' three 1990's Super Bowl titles. "Leader for that football team. So they need to get him signed.

"And the other thing is until you find somebody better, you don’t ever give up a quarterback.”

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