It was a good week for Dak Prescott.
On Monday, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback signed a new contract with $ 126 million in guaranteed cash, including $ 66 million at the time he signed.
On Wednesday, he took a victory lap alongside the man who signs the checks – Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Prescott and Jones met with the media to discuss the new deal that will keep him in Dallas for the next four years – a contract that Jones is counting on to reap dividends in the winning column.
“Almost everything I’ve ever been involved in ended up being special, I paid too much”, Jones told reporters. “Every time.”
This is clearly a reference to the $ 140 million purchase of the Cowboys, which he certainly didn’t overpay. Paid in full, Prescott’s contract will exceed that price by $ 20 million, a sign of how good the investment was.
Will the investment in Prescott pay off in the field?
But Jones’ statement made the business’s expectations clear, as if they were no longer obvious. He’s planning big things in the new extended Prescott era – bigger than the two playoff appearances and a playoff victory the Cowboys have had since recruiting Prescott in 2016.
But Jones is confident.
“It is not a risky bet,” Jones continued. “But it will take us all.”
Dak: Don’t tell me I played
As for the allusions to the game, Prescott is not here for that. He says he overheard the conversation that he gambled (and won) by turning down previous offers reportedly worth $ 33 million annually before closing Monday’s $ 40 million deal a year.
“I get insulted when people say I played,” said Prescott. “You take what you put on.”
So Prescott is confident. Jones is confident. What comes next is to find out if that trust works in the field. The first step in that direction concerns Prescott’s health. He is coming out of a brutal open fracture of his right ankle that required several surgeries and knocked him out last season after week 5.
That was in October. Almost five months after the injury, Prescott took the stage for his press conference on Wednesday.
How’s Prescott’s health now?
“I thought about running here and jumping on stage, but I didn’t think you would be ready for that,” Prescott said. “I’m healthy … I’ll be ready when I have to, more than healthy and better than I was before. “
There is that trust again.
Prescott thanked a former division rival for helping him overcome the worst of his injury. Former Washington defender Alex Smith suffered a devastating leg injury that cost him more than an entire season and came with a life-threatening infection. Prescott credited Smith’s return to the football field as a motivation to move forward on his own recovery.
“I have to thank Alex Smith,” Prescott said. “At that moment when you are sitting there and you have an injury like that … Seeing someone who has done this and done it in worse circumstances, it made my mind think ‘I can do this’. “
There was concern for Prescott when he suffered the injury that it would cost him in the negotiations. But when the Cowboys finished 4-7 without him, the narrative changed. Monday’s deal indicates that it may indeed have given him an advantage. At worst, it certainly didn’t hurt Prescott in the negotiations.
The difficult part of his recovery seems to be over. Now comes the difficult task of fulfilling your agreement.
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