Cowboys’ stalemates with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb overshadow training camp

The first day of football practice taking a back seat to contract speculation? Must be training camp with the Dallas Cowboys.

It’s a common occurrence at camps all over the NFL, as players use their leverage to secure compensation before the start of a grueling season. It’s particularly pressing in Oxnard, Calif., however, as the Cowboys are faced with financial circumstances that’d make even the most seasoned league executive sweat.

“We have a very unique situation,” Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said.

For starters, there’s the pressing issue: Their best offensive player isn’t at camp. CeeDee Lamb is this year’s contractual holdout in Dallas, as he seeks to reap the rewards of being selected All-Pro in two consecutive seasons.

Off the strength of 337 catches and 3,108 yards in those last two years, Lamb is no doubt looking for a deal that will match or potentially exceed Justin Jefferson’s four-year, $140 million extension from earlier this summer. That annual salary of $35 million or more would make Lamb the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback.

If that wasn’t interesting enough, Jones seemed to confirm Thursday morning that another young Cowboy — edge rusher Micah Parsons — is seeking to hit a similar benchmark in the near future.

“Both of them, rightfully so, believe they should be the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league,” Jones said. “Totally respect that. So, a very difficult situation we’re trying to work through with them.”

Fortunately for the Cowboys, Parsons doesn’t seem to be forcing the issue heading into his fourth season. The 25-year-old is at training camp and participating, as he seeks to build on his preposterous 40.5 sacks through his first three seasons.

“Obviously, Micah’s a year removed from where CeeDee is today — where he is in his career and contractually,” Jones said. “I think he wants to go out and show he is the best non-quarterback in the league, and I hope he does it.”

Those could be famous last words, given what Parsons’ asking price could be a year from now. Regardless, it’s a problem the Cowboys will be happy to wait on, given what else is in front of them.

Urgent as it might feel to get Lamb under contract and into camp, it comes against the backdrop of the biggest negotiation of all: Dak Prescott’s.

Like Parsons, Prescott is also at camp, but the rapidly approaching 2024 season is the last of his current contract. And unlike Parsons or even Lamb, the Cowboys don’t have the safeguard of franchise tagging their starting quarterback if they can’t reach a new deal.

That conjures up the uncomfortable thought that, barring an agreement before the start of the season, this could be Prescott’s last go-around in Dallas. Ever the optimist, team owner and general manager Jerry Jones doesn’t see it that way.

“I do not think that this will be his last year with the Cowboys, at all,” he said.

The rosy outlook is admirable, maybe even understandable. As the elder Jones pointed out, it’s common to have uncertainty at this point in the calendar. Zack Martin staged a holdout as recently as last summer, in addition to dozens of other negotiations during Jones’ decades of ownership.

“There is nothing new about not having these questions answered, that you reflect and that we’ve reflected on this offseason,” Jones said.

There does seem to be a key difference, though. Rarely does a franchise player, much less a star quarterback, enter into a contract season without a tag to keep him in place. Experienced as they may be at negotiation, the Cowboys are still talking to Prescott without the benefit of a safety net.

Speaking to reporters later Thursday, Prescott illustrated just that when asked about his future.

“I want to be here, but when you look up, all the other great quarterbacks that I watched play for other teams … that’s not something to fear,” Prescott said.

It’s all part of the negotiating dance, sure. But that doesn’t make it any less true. Just another reminder of how much work the Cowboys have in front of them, and maybe not as much time as they think to get it all done.

David Helman covers the Dallas Cowboys for FOX Sports and hosts the NFL on FOX podcast. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing “Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion” about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter at @davidhelman_.

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