FRISCO, Texas – Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is recovering from a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle last October, but is already thinking about next February and Super Bowl LVI.
“That’s my plan, have a parade in Dallas,” Prescott said on the day he officially signed the richest deal in Cowboys history: four years, $ 160 million and an NFL record-breaking bonus of 66 millions of dollars. “As a competitor, you watch people celebrate, you watch people do what you want to do and there aren’t too many things that light a fire under you than someone who has what you want. And every year we are not in the playoffs, or we did not manage to run, that just means more fire.
“You throw there that I was standing and I didn’t have a chance to be there while the boys were doing what was taken from me, I’m just excited to go out there and show you what this team can do. The next big press conference that we have it, we hope, in another year after that great parade.
Prescott’s contract has been a story since the 2019 off-season, when he played in the final year of his debut contract for $ 2 million. He continued for the 2020 season, while he played on the $ 31.4 million franchise label and finally culminated on Monday, when Prescott’s team and agent, Todd France, reached an agreement.
It took a while, but owner and general manager Jerry Jones deserved it.
“From the beginning, we said for sure that our future is with Dak,” Jones said. “We are extremely aware that the process we have done in recent years has created, if you will, a conversation and maybe even a life of its own … Do not confuse this with how correctly we think this is the decision and how much he has been there for a long time. That fits. “
Prescott said he never imagined leaving for another team.
“I’m excited to be here, to never leave, and I’m excited about what this organization will receive, what team, what its fans will receive,” Prescott said. “I’m just excited to go do this and just know this is my house, I’m not leaving. I’m a cowboy and this is just the beginning.”
To fulfill his Super Bowl dreams, Prescott still has work to do in his recovery. He was at The Star in Frisco, Texas, constantly working on his rehabilitation and said he was making good progress. Prescott said a second surgery in December was more about his ability to play long-term than anything about the injury he suffered in his week 5 win over the New York Giants.
“I’m healthy,” Prescott said. “I’ll control what I can control. I’ll follow the doctor’s orders all the time. Put on my own work ethic. I’m healthy, I’m getting closer. I’ll be ready when it counts.”
At the time of the injury, there was a recovery period of 4-6 months. The Cowboys begin their official off-season schedule in April and Prescott plans to take part in it all. He said he will continue his off-season work with John Beck, his 3DQB coach.
However, Prescott acknowledged that he needs to be “smarter” in making decisions on the ground, especially when running, as when he was injured by the Giants.
“Before the injury, when I went back to high school I was told to be smarter when I wanted to prove my physicality or when I wanted to try to make a point in the game or change the momentum. It’s no different. I need to be smarter, “he said.” With this investment, my health is in jeopardy at some point, it makes a lot more sense for me to be smarter and why people said that. When I was young Young man, I think it was very difficult to understand, now I mean a piece like this, first down, fall.
“But to say the game is on the line, it’s a first down or it’s the red zone and I’m going there, that’s who I am. I don’t know if I can ever reduce it.”
Much of the negotiation between the Cowboys and France was the ability to have the capacity to add players around Prescott. With two years of contract termination, Prescott will calculate only $ 22.2 million against the salary cap this season and will have the capacity to restructure his contract in 2022, which could create up to $ 15 million in the room.
On Wednesday, the Cowboys restructured the contracts of offensive linemen Tyron Smith, Zack Martin and La’el Collins, creating about $ 17 million in maximum space, according to a source. This puts them below the maximum entry point in next week’s free agency period, with the ability to make several strategic signatures, especially for a defense that allowed a franchise to score 473 points in 2020.
Cowboys could also look to remake bids for wide receiver Amari Cooper, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and defender Ezekiel Elliott to gain more space if they want to.
“We have the resources to do what we need to do,” said Executive Vice President Stephen Jones.
But the Cowboys believe Prescott, who is 42-27 and has a playoff win, will be their center.
“It’s not as simple as Dak wins, Jerry wins, Cowboys win,” Jerry Jones said. “Let me tell you one thing: Cowboys won today. They won today. And I’m excited about this future. And that’s what we’re all interested in – the future.”
At one point in Wednesday’s press conference, Jones was asked if they felt they had the best team in the NFC East after signing Prescott again.
The defender intervened with a quick yes.
“I think this partnership says it, doesn’t it? That gives them faith in me and, as I said, as a guy who lives by faith, just knowing that you have a family, you have an organization that wants you to be in the forefront, go do it, that’s all “Because I want to give them everything they want, everything they’ve invested. If I show it, if I put it all in, it’s going to happen in the back. I’m just happy to be in the front of that and we will all celebrate when it bears fruit. “