Dallas, TX
Dallas Cowboys cost themselves millions waiting on extensions for Dak Prescott and other stars
The Dallas Cowboys have developed this reputation of waiting to sign their top players to new contracts. For whatever reason, they are content to let negotiations keep going and going, but that ultimately pushes up the price. As NFL contracts work, the next top guy always wants to get paid more than the previous guy, so there is perpetual growth in the market. If you wait, you’re going to pay more, and that is exactly what has happened with the Dallas Cowboys.
When the 2024 offseason began, the top of the market for quarterbacks was the $55 million per season deal Joe Burrow signed with the Cincinnati Bengals last year. Then Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence matched that number with Tua Tagovialoa and Jared Goff just behind them.
A normal incremental increase would put Prescott at $56 or $57 million per season, just ticking up a little. But this is where Dallas’ earlier contract games with Prescott have come back to bite them.
In 2020, the Cowboys franchise-tagged Prescott instead of signing him to a long-term deal. Then they were set to repeat the franchise tag in 2021 before ultimately agreeing to a record-breaking contract extension. They waited until the last possible minute and after Prescott’s reps saw the Cowboys were prone to (repeatedly) using the franchise tag, they negotiated a no-tag clause in his 2021 deal. When the deal expired following the 2024 season, the Cowboys would need to extend him with a full contract if they wanted to keep him.
With that player-friendly leverage, it’s pretty likely that Prescott’s reps walked in and said $60 million right off the bat and held until he got it instead of the smaller incremental increase. So the negotiations in 2020 and 2021 potentially cost them $16 million from 2025 to 2028.
In 2023, the highest-paid wide receiver made $28 million per season (Davante Adams), but an explosion at the top of the market this offseason saw seven players eclipse that mark including CeeDee Lamb. Lamb signed his deal on August 26th, and by that time the market had climbed all the way to $35 million per season.
When the offseason opened in March, they theoretically could have agreed to a deal above the top of the market for around $30 million per season, but by the end of April, that was thrown out the window. Amon-Ra St. Brown and A.J. Brown moved the needle to $30 million and then $32 million within a couple days of each other prior to the NFL Draft. Then the big domino fell in early June when Justin Jefferson pushed the market to $35 million per season.
After Jefferson capped the market, Lamb and the Cowboys ultimately agreed to a deal worth $34 million per year as the second-highest contract in the wide receiver column. Over the course of the four years of the deal, it’s $16 million the Cowboys cost themselves by not doing the deal earlier at $30 million annually.
Looming now for the Cowboys is a deal for All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons. Parsons was eligible to sign a new deal this offseason, but instead the two sides will see him play on the final original year of his rookie contract. In 2025, he is under contract on the fifth-year option for $21 million. Surely he wants to make money money than that and make it sooner than those game checks more than a year from now.
Nick Bosa completely reset the market at EDGE in 2023 when he signed a deal worth $34 million per season, easily demolishing the previous high of T.J. Watt at $28 million per season. But with two more pass rushers topping $28 million this offseason, the market is going to rise rapidly to pass Bosa.
Waiting on Parsons could let Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Maxx Crosby, Joey Bosa, Haason Reddick, and Aidan Hutchinson continue to push the market higher, and as we’ve seen, the Cowboys aren’t afraid to use the franchise tag to push a new long-term deal all the way to 2027.
Interestingly, there is one bigger-money deal recently that they didn’t wait on. After rookie Trevon Diggs finished his third NFL season, Dallas paid him heading into 2023. He was the fifth-highest-paid cornerback in the NFL at the time and signed the biggest CB deal of the 2023 offseason. So how did his deal get done when the others didn’t?
Diggs was way more motivated to get a contract signed than Prescott, Lamb, and Parsons. As a second-round pick, he did not have the cash these other players have. At the time of his signing, he had only made $5 million over three NFL season. His $21.2 million signing bonus looked pretty great and they got him into the upper echelon, not reseting the market.
Lamb and Parsons were first-rounders and Prescott is coming off a big-money second contract, so they could afford to wait to increase leverage. Diggs chose not to do that.
Ultimately it takes two to tango, and the Cowboys haven’t wanted to dance with their star players until late at the ball, instead opting to wait it out on contract extensions. Despite the hand-wringing, they were able to get deals with these players and keep most of their core intact.
It’s hard not to think, though, about deals for other important players they franchise-tagged and let leave like RB Tony Pollard and TE Dalton Schultz, or a player they traded away instead of signing long-term like WR Amari Cooper.
The Dallas Cowboys are ramping up their efforts to get familiar with some of the top prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft class. This week, head coach Brian Schottenheimer made the trip to Columbus to check out the high-profile Ohio State Buckeyes Pro Day.
Also in attendance was Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
The Cowboys have several needs where the Buckeyes star players would fill out the roster, notably at running back, wide receiver, and along the defensive line.
MORE: Cowboys trade down, land 3 national title winners in 4-round NFL mock draft
Standout Ohio State prospects who have been linked to Dallas in mock drafts over the past few weeks are wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, and defensive end Jack Sawyer.
With Dallas’ need for a backup quarterback, Will Howard is also an intriguing prospect.
Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus is also in attendance
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) March 26, 2025
Dallas holds the No. 12 overall pick in the fhe draft which gives them some flexibility. The previously mentioned players are all expected to be available when the Cowboys are on the clock, but they could also trade back to pick up additional draft capital while targeting one of the players on Day 2.
MORE: Cowboys urged to trade back in NFL Draft if top prospect is off board
It’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out, but the Cowboys certainly have a close eye on Ohio State.
The 2025 NFL Draft will be held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with the first round on Thursday, April 24. Rounds 2 and 3 will be held on Friday, April 25, while the final rounds will play out on Saturday, April 26.
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Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double in more than three years, helping the New York Knicks defeat the Dallas Mavericks 128-113 on Tuesday night.
OG Anunoby had 35 points, and Josh Hart added 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his ninth triple-double of the season. New York (45-26) shot 59.6% and won its second straight.
Naji Marshall had a career-high 38 points, and Brandon Williams chipped in 22 points. The Mavericks (35-38) fell for the 10th time in 13 games.
Takeaways
Dallas: A night after shooting 56.3% from the field in their win Monday in Brooklyn, the Mavericks again started hot by making 28 of 43 field goals in the first half. But Dallas was worn down by New York’s depth, getting outscored 60-45 in the second half.
New York: With Mavericks center Anthony Davis (adductor strain) out, Towns went to work, scoring 24 first-half points. The center, who is third in the NBA in double-doubles, posted his first triple-double since Jan. 30, 2022, and helped New York record 40 assists on 59 field goals.
Key moment
Marshall made 13 of 15 first-half field goals and helped Dallas shoot 65.1% and remain even at 68 at halftime.
But the Knicks turned up the defensive intensity in the third quarter, opening with a 7-0 run. The Mavericks made just 4 of 18 field goals, and New York outscored Dallas 30-16 in the third.
European sauna culture is taking off in Dallas.
Romanian spa company Therme Group is opening its first U.S. location here, the Dallas Morning News reported. The firm is buying 24 acres near 1500 South Riverfront Boulevard, just outside of downtown, with plans to build an $800 million resort. The seller was Lewisville-based development firm Matthews Southwest.
Therme expects to spend $500 million on construction and $300 million on design fees and interest.
It still has to get planning and zoning approval from the city; it also plans to apply for incentives. The resort could generate $1.8 billion in tax revenues over the next 30 years and would create more than 1,000 permanent jobs, Therme US’s John Alschuler told the outlet.
The Dallas location could open as early as 2030.
It will include a 450,000-square-foot facility with baths, saunas, a waterpark and restaurants. Georgetown Company owns a 25 percent stake in Therme US and plans to build a hotel on the site, too.
Alschuler said day passes at the facility would cost about $60.
Cedars neighborhood association president Kirk Jordan visited Therme’s Bucharest facility and has voiced support for the project, which he said would be “transformative” for the area.
Therme recently announced plans for a similar resort in Washington, D.C. It already operates two facilities, in Romania and Germany.
The land buy comes less than a year after the opening of WorldSprings, a 10-acre outdoor resort with 46 mineral pools. The $32 million facility is located in the Colony.
North Texas has become a hotspot for experiential developments, with the $520 million PGA Omni Frisco leading the charge. Peppa Pig Theme Park recently opened in North Richland Hills. Universal Kids Resort is on deck to open next year in Frisco. Wisconsin-based Kalahari Resorts & Conventions announced plans for an Allen waterpark resort earlier this year.
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