The Cowboys want to re-up Dak Prescott, but only on a team-friendly deal that would allow them flexibility on other parts of the roster. That was the prevailing sentiment in Friday interviews given by owner Jerry Jones and EVP Stephen Jones. 

“The only thing we need him to do is work with us a little bit, and I understand because it’s his money and it’s easy for someone else to say, but the only reason we’re having a negotiation is to talk him into all the reasons why it’s good to have a good supporting cast around him,” Stephen Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “Other than that, it would be really easy to write the check. It’s not saving Jerry and I any money. What we’re trying to do is keep this young football team together. We think it’s a really good one. We think it’s only going to keep getting better because it is young. Other than that, this negotiation would have been over with months ago. But I think he understands where we’re coming from. We understand where he’s coming from. Ultimately, we’ll figure this out.”

Ditto for Double-J – he says he’s only willing to go so far, but he’s optimistic about an extension getting ironed out.

“How close we are to getting it done is really not identifiable because it takes two, and it takes the will of two looking at it from two different perspectives,” Jerry Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “You never know what that is, and the other one never knows where that is until it’s actually done…both parties are continuing to operate as though we’re going to get something done at some point.”

Through seven games, Prescott has led the Cowboys to a 4-3 record (good for first in the NFC East) with 8.9 yards per throw (behind only Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins). The mark Prescott likely has in mind: Russell Wilson‘s league-leading $35MM/year average.

The Cowboys are not planning to determine future Dak Prescott salaries around certain games in the first half of one of his seasons. While the Cowboys have lost their past two games, after Prescott September dominance, Jerry Jones insists this small sample size will not factor into the fourth-year quarterback’s deal.

“Let me get that real clear. It’s not impacting that with me at all,” Jones said of Prescott’s early-season work. “But I do see Dak showing the ability to handle adversity and basically go out and make the kind of plays that win important games for the Cowboys in the future. I see that.”

Through five games, Prescott leads the NFL in Total QBR (80.6). This comes after the former fourth-round pick finished in the top five of this metric twice in his first three seasons. Prescott threw three interceptions in Sunday’s loss to the Packers, which came after a 10-point Cowboys outing in New Orleans. But the Dallas passer has submitted 56 games of work for the Cowboys to judge.

It’s safe to say the organization views Prescott as a long-term passer, so a deal in the Jared Goff–Carson Wentz neighborhood ($32-$33MM per year) likely will continue to be where these talks lead. While this process may not produce a resolution soon, as Prescott appears comfortable with his standing to keep playing on a fourth-round contract, Jones is not holding two losses against his quarterback from a big-picture standpoint.

“Well, first of all, the narrative about his financial (outlook) as opposed to how he’s playing (in 2019) is laughable. It’s just not that way,” Jones said. “It’s too much on both ends of that for both ends of the team and for Dak to equate his performance, stats, or won-loss these first two or three games.”

Just a few weeks ago, it looked like Dak Prescott was going to sign an extension with the Cowboys very soon. Dallas’ owner Jerry Jones went so far as to call a deal “imminent.” Only a week later we heard that talks had stalled a little bit, and now we have further confirmation of that. 

It would be a “huge surprise” if something got done in the near future, a source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (video link), who reports he’s getting “strong indications” that nothing is close. Fowler has been told that Prescott is “willing to wait this out,” and is in no rush to sign an extension. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com confirms that no extension is expected in the near future. Prescott has been playing the best ball of his career and has all the leverage right now, so that’s not too surprising.

Since Prescott wasn’t a first-round pick like fellow 2016 draft class passers Carson Wentz and Jared Goff, he had no fifth-year option in his contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in March. The Cowboys could of course always franchise tag him if they can’t work something out, but that would be less than ideal.

The Jones family has been adamant all along that a deal will get done, but Prescott and his representatives are clearly playing hardball in negotiations. The Cowboys finally managed to lock up Ezekiel Elliott right before the start of the season, but are at an impasse with Prescott and top receiver Amari Cooper. Cooper is reportedly content to play out his contract and become a free agent, and it looks like both will be without new deals for a while. The lack of progress clearly isn’t hurting Dallas’ on-field product, as they’ve raced out to a 3-0 record.