Dak Prescott was asked at Cowboys OTAs about how he has been able to remain so patient when it comes to a potential contract extension. His reply was simple.
He doesn’t play for money.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott said he doesn’t play for money. But it’s goes without saying his agent has to do right by his QB brethren and get a market value deal pic.twitter.com/G8CuRzMARt
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) May 22, 2024
What does Michael Lombardi make of those comments? He shared his thoughts with Femi Abebefe on the latest edition of The GM Shuffle.
Michael says those comments blew him away when he first heard about them. Femi, a noted Cowboys fan, says his first thought was, well you could always sign for less money, Dak if you would like. But as Femi points out, Dak is no dummy and he’s going to want to get his money, which he doesn’t even fault him for. Femi says if he were in Dak’s shoes he would say the same exact thing.
Michael says what Dak is really saying is that he loves the game of football and his business people handle the contract. Michael says Dak also clearly understands that his play equates to money. In reality, the money is a sign of respect toward his play, Michael says. So while the headline might focus on the fact he doesn’t play for money, the reality of it is that he’s saying that he comes to play and lets his business people handle the money. He’s divorcing himself from the contract situation. Michael says people are going to make fun of him for the comments but in fairness, he’s just saying he hired people to handle his contract period. End of story. He just said it in a way to where it becomes disingenuous. No one, Michael and Femi included, works for free. You have to get paid, but you let your agent handle the contract.
Femi points out that Dak is coming off his best statistical season, which probably has him feeling at least internally, like why does he have to wait. Obviously, Femi points out, for the Cowboys if you pay Dak it becomes a little trickier to build the team. Femi has a little bit of a hard time hearing the Cowboys talk about cap space since they didn’t do anything when they had it either, but these are some big money contracts some Cowboys are in line to get.
Would Michael be comfortable paying Dak the $55-60 million contract he’s probably going to get?
“No, but I don’t think they have an alternative, right?”
Michael points out that a lot of times Dak gets blamed for things that aren’t his fault. Is he perfect? No, but Michael says nobody is perfect. But the market is dictating where this is going. Jerry Jones is looking down the barrel of having to pay Dak, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons and Michael says Jerry is going to have to determine that order.
Listen to the full episode below for the complete discussion and more from The GM Shuffle!
Show Breakdown
Dak Prescott doesn’t play for money, Aaron Rodgers feels the pressure, & more from OTAs
- On The GM Shuffle, hosts Michael Lombardi and Femi Abebefe break down the Cowboys’ contract dilemmas along with Dak Prescott’s comments at OTAs. Plus, the guys get into other storylines from this week including: Aaron Rodgers feeling the pressure, Justin Fields’ chances at the starting job in Pittsburgh and Roger Goodell discussing a potential 18-game season.
Video
Check out the DraftKings YouTube page for more and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow the guys on Twitter @mlombardiNFL and @FemiAbebefe.
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