MOBILE, Ala. — After watching seventh-round pick quarterback Brock Purdy lead the San Francisco 49ers to the NFC Title game, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones vows to always take a quarterback in the NFL Draft.
He said it’s something coach Mike McCarthy has always wanted to do and it was a doctrine of Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells when led the Cowboys from 2003-2006.
But don’t be fooled, Jones desire to take draft a quarterback is more about having a developmental option than a referendum on Cowboys starter Dak Prescott following his worst statistical season of his career when he led the NFL with 15 interceptions, including one in seven straight games to end the season and two in the divisional playoff loss to Purdy and the 49ers.
The Cowboys remain bullish on Prescott as their franchise quarterback and one who is the key to them finally reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since their last title in 1995, so much so that vice president Stephen Jones not only says he will consider looking at a contract extension for this offseason for Prescott but that sees the former 2016 fourth-round pick being the team’s quarterback for 10 more years.
Prescott has two years left on the four-year, $160 million contract he signed in 2021.
But because Prescott has a $49 million cap hit in 2023, the Cowboys could consider a contract extension for him to lower the number and clear room to sign other players.
“I think you can look at it, absolutely,” Stephen Jones said. “Obviously, Dak is the key guy on this football team, first and foremost. No one respects him more than Jerry and myself. I think we were just counting, you’re going to have 12-13-14 quarterbacks making $40+ million bucks when you look up. He deserves to be in that category. But when someone on any of those 13-14 teams making that kind of money, you’re always taking about what he’s making.
“The bigger thing for us is Dak is going to be our guy for, hopefully, the next 10 years. You say, ‘that’s a long time’ because he’s already played 6 of 7. But I think Dak will play that long because he takes care of himself and he’s driven to be great and we fully expect him to be here for 10 years.”
Whether it happens this offseason or next, the Cowboys more inclined to extend Prescott than look for a quarterback to replace him, despite his turnovers in 2022.
Jerry Jones said the decision to move away from Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator and turn the playcalling over to coach Mike McCarthy was all about looking ways to help Prescott.
“I’m very strong on Dak,” Jerry Jones said. “We have, in my mind, a unique person, a unique football player, a unique quarterback. This whole thing reflects the upside that I feel in Dak. The fact that we’re doing this, Mike’s calling the plays, this has everything to do with the positives around Dak. It’s building around Dak.
“I think this is a plus for Dak. And if it’s a plus for Dak, it’s a plus for all of us.”
The Cowboys didn’t have a conversation with Prescott over the decision to part ways with Moore, who had been in his ear as a coach or sounding board since he was a backup quarterback when a rookie Prescott replaced Tony Romo as the starter in 2016,
They trust that Prescott knows they made the decision in the best interest of the team.
But yes, the Cowboys hope to draft a young quarterback. McCarthy’s preference is to keep a developmental one in the pipeline, a pattern Jerry Jones wishes he would have always done.
“If I look back over my earlier years with Cowboys, if I had to do over again, I’d have a quarterback coming all the time,” Jerry Jones said. “Just for that purpose, just to have him coming. And really that’s the understanding that I had with Mike when he got here and ‘let’s keep one coming’.
“My deal with Bill Parcells was, ‘don’t think about leaving here without us getting a successor.’ The problem is that he just wanted to win one more game and he never would put Romo in quick enough.”
There will be no quick moving away from Prescott.
Stephen Jones wants to make it clear to everyone. He is firmly entrenched as the team’s long-time answer at quarterback with same commitment the organization gave Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach and Tony Romo before him.
“I want to make sure I’m clear about that,” Stephen Jones said. “Dak’s going to be our guy over and over again just like Troy was, just like Romo was, like Staubach was.”
