Aikman Reveals Sean Lee's Locker-Room View On Dak

Troy Aikman Reveals Sean Lee's Locker-Room View On The Dallas Cowboys Leadership of QB Dak Prescott

DALLAS - The case for "Pay The Man'' as it relates to unsigned QB Dak Prescott may be best expressed not by stats or percentages, but by the raw thoughts of the people who line up alongside the Dallas Cowboys centerpiece.

The iconic Troy Aikman is spending time with family in Southern California and recently bumped into Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee. At some point, the conversation naturally turned to Dak.

"Is there something I’m missing about this guy?'' Aikman asked Lee, trying to get to the bottom of why "Pay The Man'' is such a controversial hot-button topic. "Because I love him.''

Lee's answer was a thumbs-up in every way, the veteran linebacker detailing for Aikman the QB's unselfishness and his desire to win.

"Sean is a huge fan as well, and everybody in that locker room is,'' said Aikman of Prescott. "I love Dak Prescott. I love everything about him. ... I think he's a very unselfish player, I wouldn’t say that about everybody, and he only wants to win. He truly doesn’t care about his stats. He just wants to win, he’s a leader, his teammates love him.''

How exactly do we quantify that? Prescott is involved in contract negotiations with Dallas that, when he eventually signs his franchise-tag tender, will pay him $31.409 million guaranteed, or will work out a long-term deal that presently has the Cowboys offering a five-year deal worth about $35 million APY. And as we bring out that Big Calculator and then try to shove into it data that itself comes with its own questions - "How many drops did the Cowboys have last year?'' "How many Dak interceptions ended up being dropped?'' Is there such a thing as 'QB wins''?'' - it becomes impossible to avoid including the human element here.

All of which is why Aikman, a Hall-of-Famer in Dallas as a three-time Super Bowl winner now entering his 20th season with FOX Sports, thinks the "controversial'' headlines are unmerited.

"I've been surprised that there has been so much discussion about his contract,'' Aikman told me. "It's not like he's not going to be playing for the Cowboys in 2020. Whether he is franchised or he has a deal, he's going to be here playing and eventually a deal gets done. So it's not high on my list of things I look at the league and what’s happening with the other 31 teams.''

It does seem, however, that Sean Lee getting his deal done is high on the list of things his Cowboys teammates are in tune with.