Dak Prescott Is Doing His Part For Cowboys To Win A Super Bowl. Will Jerry Jones?

What Jerry Jones saw late in overtime this past Sunday was what he described as “vintage Dak Prescott.” First came a pinpoint pass to George Pickens for 27 yards, just beyond the reach of the opponent’s best corner. Then came Prescott avoiding the pass rush and taking off for a 14-yard run.

To Jones, the club’s hands-on owner, those were more than two clutch plays that set up the game-winning field goal in the Cowboys’ 40-37 overtime win over the Giants. They were justification for the faith Jones has had in his quarterback all along. He’s never shied away from his belief that Prescott is capable of leading his Cowboys to the Super Bowl.

And he’s right. Prescott really is that good. 

He’s just never had strong enough of a supporting cast to win it all.

Maybe he will soon.

It’s too early to tell after just two games, of course. But as the Cowboys prepare for a Week 3 matchup against the Chicago Bears (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX), Jones sure does seem to believe he’s got the right group around Prescott for the first time in the quarterback’s now 10-year career. And he believes it even after trading away linebacker Micah Parsons, one of the best defensive players in the game, and embracing what his critics believe is a quantity over quality approach.

“We’ve got some real talent on our roster,” Jones said during a recent appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “You can’t keep all of those players under our [salary cap] system. You have to make some decisions. 

“One of the things that I pride myself in, even though I’m criticized for dragging a negotiation out, is that you need to see the wreck when it’s coming or see the event when it’s coming. When we signed Dak Prescott, we knew that we were going to have to be very judicious as we go forward to put the kind of roster around Prescott that gives us a chance to win the Super Bowl.”

It’s certainly a controversial approach, in the wake of the 82-year-old’s decision to trade Parsons to Green Bay rather than pay him the $46.5 million per year the Packers gave him (four years, $186 million with $136 million guaranteed). But for Jones, it’s all part of his commitment to Prescott. He signed Prescott to a four-year, $240 million deal last September, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL — a distinction Dak still holds. And he followed that up by giving his best weapon, CeeDee Lamb, a four-year, $136 million deal, making him the highest-paid receiver in the league.

Jones considered paying Parsons, too, and making them his new long-term Big 3. But his theory seemed to be that tying up all that salary cap space in three players was going to limit what he could spend on the rest of his team. And Jones certainly hasn’t been shy about spending this offseason. This summer alone, he’s extended tight end Jake Ferguson, fullback Hunter Luepke, All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland and Pro Bowl guard Tyler Smith. 

That all came after he traded for Pickens back in May, adding the second receiver the Cowboys have needed since trading away Amari Cooper four years ago. Jones has also gotten promising returns from free-agent pickup Javonte Williams, who’s already rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns. With money left over to add to a struggling pass rush — insert Parsons quip here — he took a one-year, $3.5 million flier on Jadeveon Clowney.

Not all of that is directly related to the decision not to pay Parsons, obviously, though Jones did say the addition of Clowney is “the reason we handle the roster the way we handle it, so we can do these kinds of things.” But his point has been consistent. The Parsons trade has given Jones the kind of financial flexibility and draft (or trade) assets to build the kind of team Prescott needs and deserves.

And he had to, because it was clear that Prescott couldn’t make it work with Lamb alone. For a few years now, the Cowboys’ offense has been startlingly one-dimensional. Any team that managed to shut down the Prescott-to-Lamb connection had a tremendous chance to win the game. When Prescott and Lamb went off, the Cowboys were a threat to everyone. The two of them alone could cover most of the Cowboys’ other flaws.

Now they don’t necessarily have to — if Jones’ master plan proves correct. On defense, Jones is betting that defensive tackle Kenny Clark, acquired in the Parsons trade, will shore up their leaky run defense, especially late in the season, even if it’s hard to argue that his new-look defense is better overall. And the addition of Pickens gives the Cowboys an overqualified Robin opposite Lamb’s Batman in the passing game.

“He’s the guy who is going to win one-on-one or if not, draw fouls,” Prescott said of Pickens. “Very physical. He’s a mismatch for any DB in this league. So, they are going to have to double. And that’s your troubles right there. You want to double him or double CeeDee?

“When these guys aren’t doubled, they are going to take advantage of it.”

There are still holes in Jones’ grand plan. The offensive line he’s painstakingly built over the past few drafts hasn’t looked good in the first two games, and will now be without center Cooper Beebe for 6-8 weeks. And, naturally, the Parsons-less defense has looked like a liability early, putting even more pressure on Prescott to light up the scoreboard.

“I know Jerry loves Kenny Clark and I get that he wants to improve the run defense,” the scout said. “But Parsons is a wrecking ball. You can’t easily replace all the things he does.”

True, but Prescott is the kind of quarterback who can make up for what the Cowboys lost — again, assuming the right kind of team is finally around him. He threw for 4,516 yards and an NFL-best 36 touchdowns in 2023 when the Cowboys had a middling rushing attack, with about 40% of his passing yards going to Lamb. Everyone knew Prescott only had one real viable option, and he still somehow made it work as the Cowboys went 12-5 and won the NFC East.

With better personnel around him, there’s no real reason why he can’t do that again.

“[Jones] is not wrong in what he’s saying,” one NFC scout said. “The more assets you have, the more cap room you have, the better team you can build. And Prescott is an elite quarterback who certainly can win with the right team around him.

“But it’s about what you do with those assets that you have. Those draft picks they got for Parsons (first rounders in 2026 and 2027) won’t help for a couple of years. Does Dak have a better team around him now with Parsons gone? I don’t know that we know that yet.”

Jones thinks he knows. Trading Parsons away was either a) a bet against Prescott not being good enough to win it all with three players gobbling up so much of the club’s cap space, or b) Parsons not being worth the biggest deal in the league for a non-QB. Jones is clearly suggesting the latter.

“I’ll tell you this right now,” Jones said, “as we look forward to Dak’s time, when we made his contract and we look forward, this was the best way to maximize our chance to get a Super Bowl for Dak.

“We have the highest-paid player in the NFL at quarterback. We made that commitment last year, and we’re proud we made it. It had everything to do with [the Parsons trade]. Everything. It gives us every opportunity with Dak Prescott and Lamb and the base that we’ve got to win now.”

He’s not wrong about that. He’s got the right quarterback.

The only question is whether Jones, whose personnel blunders have wasted much of Prescott’s first nine years in the NFL, can finally do right by him.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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