ESPN: Jerry Jones' comments on Dak Prescott needing to step up with a bigger contract

[plymkr]

Jane Slater said it flat-out that a WR said Dak panics if his first read isn’t there…. Stephen A. smith said something like he met a couple of Cowboys in the off-season last year in Vegas at the fight and they said they all believe the roster is good enough, but the question is whether Dak has it to get them there.

Ouch. I knew about Jane Slater’s report but I didn’t know about SAS. There’s a lot of smoke there. It would explain why Jerry is cool letting Dak play out this year.

 

[Fontaine]

I love Dak, but is Jerry wrong? You want more money, ok, why?

 

[Flamma]

If I was Dak, after Jerry just bashed me and tried to punk me out in front of the whole world, I would call Jerry, Stephen and McCarthy, today, and tell them I'm sitting out until I receive a new contract which I agree to. Let Rush and Lance QB the team to start the season. Once those losses start piling up and all of Cowboys Nation starts picketing to sign Dak immediately, we will soon find out who can punk who out.

His competitive nature won't allow him to do that. He knows he sucked and embarrassed himself against the Packers. Jerry calling him out. It's human nature as an athlete to take him up on his challenge. Not cry.

 

[Rayman70]

Jerry still dont get how football works. The contract isn't equal to the effort anymore.

 

[GoldenR]

Jerry must have rewatched the Packer game when Dak crapped on himself as per usual in the playoffs and took them outta the game in 24 minutes. Jerry said " wait just a darn minute! Who singlehandedly keeps losing these big games?"

 

[TequilaCowboy]

Well, we all know already how Dak plays under pressure. Folds like an enchilada.

And we also know Jerry is all bark and no bite. So who will win this game of chicken? Stay tuned.

 

[Coogiguy03]

It is what it is. Dak aiming to be the highest paid player in NFL history and that’s fine; only shocking to see he’s surprised that any GM would be hesitant to do that with a guy who was just dog walked out of playoff game against GB.

Lol lol right

 

[cowboyed]

Dak is just is not as effective competing against the more talented quarterbacks on formidable teams who usually advance in the playoffs. The quality of player depth on better teams tells us that our team has and is being run by pedestrian general and executive management that is not as intuitive and shrewd trading for, and drafting college players and acquiring free agents as we think.

 

[Streifenkarl]

I don't think that there has been anything disrespectful uttered in this. It's a business, and all parties understand this. I never will blame a player for trying to get as much as they can - they have a limited shelf life to earn as much as possible, and it's not the player's responsibility to manage the cap - it's ownership's job. Conversely, I don't blame ownership for holding the line on what they want to pay someone either. If it were my team that I owned, I would have went to Prescott/France after the season ended, and asked for them to waive the no-trade clause so they could move on. Prescott isn't worth that salary IMO. They didn't, and here we are.

Don't think for a minute that this is playing out the way that BOTH parties want this to play out. Prescott and France want to hit free agency, and Jones now has the Cowboys as a conversation point throughout the season. Yes, it's stupid to create a huge distraction for the whole team, but to Jerry Jones, distractions via media reporting of the contract=relevance=clicks=dollars.

This (text in bold). I absolutely agree. Both didn't expect the way it all developed and I think both parties don't want to be in that situation right now. I can understand Dak's comments after Jerry's idiotic (and useless) bantering but in effect both should just keep their mouths shut until a decision has been made.

I doubt Dak would have waived his NTC though. Unless of course there had been a huge offering from any other club. But I doubt there would have after the GB game.

It really doesn't make any sense for both parties doing what they are doing right now. Weird how things go sometimes. And it's not good for the team. This does something with the other players heads. A guy saying publicly that he doesn't care about what his boss says... I guess many awkward moments in Frisco these days.

 

[charron]

You don't pay someone a d expect them to step up.....you pay them because they stepped up. That's how you win with big contracts.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Jane Slater said it flat-out that a WR said Dak panics if his first read isn’t there…. Stephen A. smith said something like he met a couple of Cowboys in the off-season last year in Vegas at the fight and they said they all believe the roster is good enough, but the question is whether Dak has it to get them there.

I don't know about this part. The second part about SAS I can see but to say he panics w/o a first read especially coming from just "a WR". There is a long article over on The Athletic.com that's titled NFL QB Tiers 2024. It is their 11th annual survey of 50 NFL coaches and executives. I can't link any info for obvious reasons but here are few nuggets...
Tier 1 has only 3 QBs......Mahomes, Burrow and Allen. These QBs ( as stated ) can carry their team each week. Teams win because of them. They have no holes in their game.

Tier 2 has 11 QBs .........Jackson, Stafford, Herbert, Rogers, Stroud, Dak, Goff, Hurts, Purdy, Cousins, Love. These QBs can carry a team sometimes but not consistently. They can handles pressure passing situations in doses but possess other dimensions that elevate them above tire 3 QBs. They have a hole or two in their game. A couple of comments about Dak......#9 BTW
" Dak can roll out of bed and throw for 450 yards" but this OC went on to say he has to overcome his playoff issues to be tier 1. ( this is what I think Jerry is referring to about he has to do more)
" I have always given him a 2 said a defensive coor but this year I gave him a 3" He's proven year in and year out he can't get it done in the playoff"
" Dak is the definition of tier 2". He is not perfect, he has some holes but he is about as steady of tier 2 as you can be.

My point here is you don't have issues/problems making 2nd and 3rd reads and put up the kind of stats he has. In other words, Lamb and Ferguson are likely his 1st and/or 2nd read on most passing plays. They both had career years last season.

My issue is him not taking ownership of plays from the side that he either knows or should know won't work but he runs the play anyway trying to make something that's not there.

 

[eromeopolk]

He is sure dumb but he fielded the teams that got to the playoffs, All the blame can't be on him for the player personnel not performing to get past the divisional.....

The teams mentality are just Charmin soft once the elimination games begin.....

The problem is he fielded the team, coached the team, and owned the team. You cannot have the leader of your football team in the box suite. Leadership begins at Head Coach (see Landry, Johnson, Parcells, Reid, McVay), then QB (see Staubach, Aikman, Mahomes), then other positions (see Haley, Norton, Maryland).

Owners own, GMs manage, and Head Coaches coach with authority, accountability, responsibility for all football decisions. GMs don't whine to the Head Coach to talk to him when the cameras on the make him look important.

Arlington Jonesboys.

 

[OGSixshooter]

I don't know about this part. The second part about SAS I can see but to say he panics w/o a first read especially coming from just "a WR". There is a long article over on The Athletic.com that's titled NFL QB Tiers 2024. It is their 11th annual survey of 50 NFL coaches and executives. I can't link any info for obvious reasons but here are few nuggets...
Tier 1 has only 3 QBs......Mahomes, Burrow and Allen. These QBs ( as stated ) can carry their team each week. Teams win because of them. They have no holes in their game.

Tier 2 has 11 QBs .........Jackson, Stafford, Herbert, Rogers, Stroud, Dak, Goff, Hurts, Purdy, Cousins, Love. These QBs can carry a team sometimes but not consistently. They can handles pressure passing situations in doses but possess other dimensions that elevate them above tire 3 QBs. They have a hole or two in their game. A couple of comments about Dak......#9 BTW
" Dak can roll out of bed and throw for 450 yards" but this OC went on to say he has to overcome his playoff issues to be tier 1. ( this is what I think Jerry is referring to about he has to do more)
" I have always given him a 2 said a defensive coor but this year I gave him a 3" He's proven year in and year out he can't get it done in the playoff"
" Dak is the definition of tier 2". He is not perfect, he has some holes but he is about as steady of tier 2 as you can be.

My point here is you don't have issues/problems making 2nd and 3rd reads and put up the kind of stats he has. In other words, Lamb and Ferguson are likely his 1st and/or 2nd read on most passing plays. They both had career years last season.

My issue is him not taking ownership of plays from the side that he either knows or should know won't work but he runs the play anyway trying to make something that's not there.

In the biggest of games, this is true about Dak. I agree, he can go to his other reads in a clean pocket, but in the playoffs where the pressure is heightened, Dak panics. I saw it early in the game and so did CeeDee. CeeDee's mom saw it too.

 

[starfrombirth]

I get the bashing of Dak's most recent playoff games but the earlier part of his career he did more than enough to win ALL of them.

Even his last 3 playoff losses, his defense and teammates have totally let him down. I watch every single playoff game, and recently the only QB who's been let down by his teammates and defense more is Rodgers. Well...Matt Ryan too. If he counts as recent. Just the cold hard facts.

Everyone else has players around them doing their job more times than not.

Everyone seems to think that because Dak made some kind of late game point rally that he played good enough to win those games. That is patently false.In the early part of those games Dak consistently missed reads, missed open targets, missed the receiver screaming down the seam that would have been a touchdown, and threw interceptions. Dak is the one constantly changing the play called at the line but he consistently didn't put the offense in the right play. This kept putting the defense in bad positions and by the time Dak started putting it together, the game was too far out of reach. The defense didn't help out very much but at the same token when you're asking to be paid like the best player in the league, you need to show that you can overcome like the best player in the league. Patrick Mahomes gets paid like he does because he is the best player in the league.... Dak IS NOT!

 

[starfrombirth]

Running game and O-Line?

Who is getting highly paid out of those 2 groups? None of the RBs. On the Oline, it's only old man Zack Martin (which this year is his last under contract) and Terence Steele. That's it. Pretty much no big pay is currently being used for either the RB or Oline groups.

Did you forget Zeke?

 

[starfrombirth]

If you're asking him to be Manning, Mahomes, and Brady that might never happen.

But can he play better than he's played in his last 3 playoff losses? Absolutely.

I just don't think the fact that he's gonna be the highest paid means he has to outplay everyone. It's not a merit based payment system. He's just the most recent contract.At some point, merit/performance has to matter more than "The most recent contract". 1 player can't consistently account for more than 1/5th of the cap and up to 25% if you include dead money.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Did you forget Zeke?

Zeke is getting paid $2 million. That's nothing.

 

[starfrombirth]

Zeke is getting paid $2 million. That's nothing.

We were talking about the past...

 

[America's Cowboy]

We were talking about the past...

I'm talking about right now and how it affects the team today.

 

[Kingofholland]

I'm confused......is he questioning Dak's ceiling, work ethic or leadership? IF you mean this, then it seems to me we need to shut down any talk of extension until after the season.

The bottom line is this goes back to his disappointment with the GB game IMO. In one of the biggest games of his career, Dak shows up ill-prepared. I have said it before and will say it again, something happened that week before the game that raised a red flag in leadership.

I think a lot of it is lip service and hedging his bets in making Dak feel wanted if they planned to re-sign him. I believe the Cowboys do want Dak, but only to a certain price point unless he delivers in a big way this year.

At this point, they're much better off letting the season play out and make a decision after the year. Most of the major names have already gotten their deals recently and don't know there's anyone else that would significantly drive up the market between now and next offseason.