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By Jon Machota
4h ago
INDIANAPOLIS — The Cowboys have no interest in finding a new quarterback. Dak Prescott has two years left on the four-year, $160 million contract that he signed in March of 2021, and Dallas would like to add more onto the 29-year-old’s deal.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said this week at the annual NFL Scouting Combine that they have a plan to handle Prescott’s contract, but as of Tuesday they had not spoken with Prescott’s agent while in Indianapolis.
“My bet is there’s not gonna be a lot said about it,” Jones said. “We’ll wake up one day and it’ll be done.”
There was certainly a lot said leading up to Prescott’s last contract extension. It was one of the NFL’s biggest offseason stories in 2021, following Prescott playing under the franchise tag during the 2020 season. Prescott currently has the NFL’s seventh-highest annual salary at $40 million per year, trailing other quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers ($50.2 million), Russell Wilson ($49 million), Kyler Murray ($46.1 million), Deshaun Watson ($46 million), Patrick Mahomes ($45 million) and Josh Allen ($43 million). When Prescott signed the deal, his average annual value was second only to Mahomes.
Prescott had arguably the worst game of his career in Dallas’ divisional-round playoff loss at San Francisco in January, throwing for only 206 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Prescott had arguably the best game of his career in Dallas’ wild-card win a week before that at Tampa Bay. He threw for 305 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions while also adding a rushing touchdown in the Cowboys’ 31-14 win over Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.
“We feel strongly about his future, and we’ll definitely build this thing around him,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said of Prescott on Wednesday from the combine.
McCarthy was speaking with reporters for the first time since officially taking over as the team’s new offensive play caller. He spoke highly of former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who is now the OC for the Los Angeles Chargers. McCarthy noted how Moore improved in each of his three seasons in that role. The Cowboys had the NFL’s No. 1 scoring and total offense in 2021. They were fourth in scoring offense and 11th in total offense last season.
But the Cowboys turned the ball over 23 times in 2022. Only seven teams turned it over more. They turned it over 20 times in 2021 and 26 times in 2020.
McCarthy felt a change needed to be made, so he told Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that he wanted to take over play calling, something he hasn’t done since 2018, his final season in Green Bay. McCarthy called the Packers’ offensive plays for almost all of his 13 seasons in Green Bay, including in 2010 when the Packers won the Super Bowl.
“I’ve been where Kellen has been,” McCarthy said. “Kellen wants to light the scoreboard up. But I want to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense. I think when you’re a coordinator, you know, but you’re in charge of the offense. Being a head coach and being a play caller, you’re a little more in tune with (everything). I don’t desire to be the No. 1 offense in the league. I want to be the No. 1 team in the league with a number of wins and a championship. And if we gotta give up some production and take care of the ball better to get that, then that’s what we’ll do, because we have a really good defense.”
McCarthy said it was a good question when asked if calling plays is like riding a bike.
“We’ll find out,” he added. “That’s a big break. … I wake up at three in the morning every night, thinking about plays. So I’m back. You know, most people sing in the shower. I’m calling the final drive of the Super Bowl again. Driving in my car, I’m thinking of plays.”
McCarthy added that one of his main goals as play caller will be reducing the number of hits on Prescott. The plan is to improve the efficiency of the run game, get the ball out quicker and have better protection up front.
“If Dak Prescott plays in every game next year,” McCarthy said, “I feel like we’re gonna have a hell of a season.”
The Cowboys have been running a different system than McCarthy would have been had he taken over play calling when he was hired as head coach in 2020. He has a background in the West Coast offense and more of that will be implemented, but he also doesn’t want to get away from things that have helped make Precott successful while with Moore, Scott Linehan and Jason Garrett.
“Your quarterback has to be able to go throw the ball 45 times in a game and win,” McCarthy said. “Can’t win a championship in this league if your guy can’t have the capabilities of doing that, I believe. But having them do that every week? It’s fun. It’s fun as hell to call those plays, but that’s not the best thing for your team. Time of possession goes to hell, risk for turnover goes up.
“We’ve got to secure the ball better. We need to be a top five team (in the league). And that’s a skill. … And that comes from the lead guy in the room. You got to emphasize that. That’s gotta be an everyday deal.”
Here are some other Cowboys-related notes from the first few days of the combine.
• Cowboys right tackle Terence Steele is ahead of schedule on his rehab work from the torn ACL he suffered in Week 14 against the Texans. The Cowboys expect Steele and RB Tony Pollard (leg) to be ready for training camp. Steele could start camp on the physically unable to perform list.
• The Cowboys are meeting with Pollard’s agent this week. Stephen Jones said they could use the franchise tag on Pollard if they can’t reach a new deal, “but we certainly hadn’t determined whether we’ll do that. More than likely, we’ll use our tag. Not necessarily on Tony, but we’ll use our tag.” If they use it, it will almost certainly be on either Pollard, which is around $10 million for the 2023 season, or on TE Dalton Schultz, which would be around $13 million for the 2023 season.
• Stephen Jones said he expects veteran OT Tyron Smith to be back for the 2023 season. The Cowboys like the idea of having depth at the tackle position with Tyler Smith, Tyron Smith and Steele. If Steele isn’t ready at the end of camp, perhaps Dallas could start Tyron Smith at right tackle. If all are healthy, the Cowboys could move Tyler Smith back to left guard and start Tyron Smith at left tackle. Tyron Smith’s base salary for the 2023 season is currently $13.6 million. Can Dallas leave his contract as is or would the deal need to be reworked? “We can always do reworks and things of that nature,” Stephen Jones said. “That could come up with him … but right now, we’re comfortable where we are.” The Cowboys believe reserve offensive tackles Matt Waletzko and Josh Ball are ready for larger roles, likely at swing tackle.
• Stephen Jones said he thinks the Cowboys have a “solid group” at wide receiver. “Can we look at maybe improving it? Absolutely,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say we’re looking hard at it in terms of what we ultimately want the room to look like.” If the Cowboys were going to make a bold move at a position, wide receiver would be the odds-on favorite. Do they second-guess their decision to trade Amari Cooper last year? “Not really,” Jones said. “That was a tough situation. Felt comfortable with what we did and still feel comfortable with it.” They feel comfortable moving on from Cooper, but they could have done more with how they addressed replacing him. Looking back, not being able to re-sign Cedrick Wilson, who signed a three-year, $22 million deal with the Dolphins, was a bigger loss than maybe most thought at the time.
https://theathletic.com/4226099/2023/02/20/dallas-cowboys-mock-draft/
• The Cowboys were also hoping to get more production from WR Michael Gallup, but coming back from a significant season-ending knee injury the year before proved to be a bigger obstacle than they expected. “Michael Gallup has a great chance to take the next step in terms of what he can do,” Jones said. “Coming off a major ACL, I think it’s pretty typical that guys improve from the first year to the second year. There’s usually a jump. And I fully expect Michael to do that.”
• In regards to their 19 unrestricted free agents, safety Donovan Wilson and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch are near the top of the list of players they’d like to bring back. “I thought Leighton had a great year,” Jones said. “It’ll all just boil down to the economics in terms of where he ends up. He had a hell of a year.”
• The Cowboys are not ruling out the possibility of drafting a running back with their first-round pick, No. 26 overall. Jones mentioned that they usually have 18 to 20 players with first-round grades. It’s unlikely that one of those 18 to 20 players will fall to them at 26, but if they have a first-round grade on a player like Texas RB Bijan Robinson, maybe they would consider making him their selection. “I think certainly if the right guy were there and you loved him and you needed him, then you’d take him,” Jones said.
That scenario would be highly unlikely if Ezekiel Elliott is still on the roster. And from all indications in Indianapolis, the Cowboys would still like to have Elliott on their 2023 roster. That will certainly have to be at a reduced salary. Elliott’s 2023 base salary is scheduled to be $10.9 million with a $16.7 million salary-cap hit.
• McCarthy on new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer: “I think he has incredible people skills. He has it when it comes to bringing people together. Then, the football part of it. It’s been fun. I think Brian and I have worked together, shoot, 25 or so years. So, it’s been cool to see where he’s gone with his path from the base teachings that we learned under his father, Marty, and how things have evolved. But once again, we’re not throwing everything away. We have a lot of good to build off of. No. 1 with our players. The concepts that have been established. It’s really our responsibility to make sure we’re clean and precise on the direction that we’re going, and he brings that experience and that knowledge to the workplace every day.”
• What gives Jones the most optimism that they can take that next step and can get past that divisional round of the playoffs? “I think the overall foundation of our football team is strong, real strong. Dak is the ultimate team leader. He’s got an insatiable appetite to be great, and clean up whatever he needs to clean up. I think it all starts with the quarterback and I think we’ve got ours. And then I think with the players around him we’ve got a great foundation. This is a team that I think has won more (regular season) games other than Kansas City in the last two years. Where we’re not getting it done, obviously is putting a string of three to four games in the playoffs together where we play at a high level.”
