'No Free Lunch': Jerry Jones 'Blaming' Dak Prescott for Dallas Cowboys Cap Concerns?

Do recent remarks suggest Jerry offered up too large a slice to quarterback Dak Prescott?

FRISCO - Jerry Jones is ultimately in charge of the spending around here, in regard to what Dallas Cowboys management likes to call the salary-cap "pie.''

Do recent remarks suggest he offered up too large a slice to quarterback Dak Prescott?

“The more you pay the quarterback, the teams that pay the big ticket on the quarterback, they have to sacrifice other places,” Jones said recently 105.3 The Fan. “The facts are, there’s no free lunch. Every dollar you spend on a player is a dollar you can’t spend someplace else.”

This is a reality as simple and basic as a household managing its checkbook (well, if there was such a thing anymore as a "checkbook.'') So there is no grand revelation here - unless Jones is truly trying to pin any Dallas cap concerns on the likes of Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, the trio that tops the Cowboys' high-priced talent.

The fact is, Prescott’s large four-year, $160 million contract in 2021 (which is likely to get larger just around the corner) is the result of Cowboys decisions more than anything else. Dallas could've signed him earlier and gotten him cheaper. Or, as with Zeke and Tank, Dallas could've opted to not sign them at all.

Or ...

Dallas could have - and still can - opt to bend on its fiscally responsible plan to keep cap room in its pocket (about $20 million worth right now) in order to make sure the talent on the roster stays on the roster. Meaning COO Stephen Jones is the driving force behind the idea of keeping space for Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb and Trevon Diggs, when their turns come around.

Because of that "fiscal responsibility,'' Jerry stands accused of not being as "aggressive'' as he once was, of - as we put it to the ol' oil man face-to-face in the interview below - no longer being "Reckless Jerry'' and a "wild-catter.''

“No one would deny that I’m a risk-taker,” he said. “No one. I take risk and I do it every day in my life. And so, there is a proper time to take some risk. We have taken them and we will take them… I hope that some of the risk I take in the future … will result in a change from where we’ve been - and that’s not getting to the Super Bowl. But I do that every day in my life.”

Cowboys fans can debate about this franchise's present level of "risk.'' But as the 2022 NFL season launches (see "Dak: Pressure is Privilege''), Cowboys Nation can all agree on one thing: Fans of Jerry Jones' team are anxiously awaiting the reward.

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