The Facts: DE Demarcus Lawrence caps off another double-digit sack year after playing on the franchise tag. CB Byron Jones emerges from his first Pro Bowl year entering the last season of his rookie deal. Prescott and Amari Cooper will be unrestricted free agents in 2020, which also would mark the fifth-year option for Ezekiel Elliott. What does all this mean for Prescott as he looks to lock up an extension? “I think the team knows how to pay what’s deserved,” Prescott said, “and pay those other people at the same time what’s deserved without being frugal.”
Diehards Line:The Cowboys and Prescott, represented by NFL agent Todd France, will need to reach agreement on what exactly constitutes frugal. Through three years, the Cowboys have enjoyed a bargain on their starting quarterback. The 2016 fourth-round pick's salary cap hit of $725,848 in 2018 ranked 55th among NFL passers. Prescott’s wide range of endorsements supplement a salary modest by NFL terms. But as his first chance to negotiate an extension hits this spring, his team will ask: What is he worth? Prescott doesn’t see Patriots QB Tom Brady’s team-friendly deal, for which he made just $15 million last season, as a blueprint for his own. But Prescott has made clear he wants to stay in Dallas. Cowboys personnel, too, have made clear they see him as their long-term quarterback. "It's always good to be a quarterback though," Cowboys VP Stephen Jones recently said. "Especially one that wins, is a winner." In three seasons, Prescott has won 32 regular-season games and one in the playoffs. He has started every contest since Dallas drafted him. His 67 passing touchdowns through three seasons aren’t gaudy, though his 18 rushing scores rank tops among quarterbacks in the league through the stretch. Prescott entrenched his starter role as a rookie in large part thanks to the ball security he displayed while mounting a 23:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Prescott enters his first chance to negotiate having won seven of his last eight regular-season games, completing 71.63 percent of passes and accounting for 16 total touchdowns with just four interceptions during that stretch.