While his players aren’t too pleased with the stalled contract talks, Cowboys owner labeled his delayed contract negotiation skills with three time Super Bowl winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Jerry Jones views himself the Patrick Mahomes of NFL owners (image via IMAGO)
Jerry Jones is 81 years old and under tremendous pressure to deal with front-office stuff like extending key player contracts and keeping the Dallas Cowboys organization running smoothly. It seems the pressure got to him at Oxnard when he compared himself to Patrick Mahomes.
Not paying Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons early has become a headache for the Cowboys owner. And if they don’t agree to a new deal before March 12, 2025, then they will enter free agency, leaving Jones even more on his plate.
On Thursday, Jones highlighted the ongoing contract talks to stalled negotiations with Prescott at Oxnard and compared himself to Patrick Mahomes. In his view, curating a new contract is like playing an optional quarterback who can step and make the right decisions.
Understandably social media was bound to react to this. Check out some of the reactions down below:
Earlier this week, Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones revealed they were pushing to keep all the players if they could with the team. Yet, with limited cap space to work with, someone might be left out.
Prescott, Lamb, and Parsons—all three players are on course for record-breaking deals. Prescott will have a cap hit of $55 million by the time the 2024 season ends and most likely earn close to or more than $60 million, making him the highest-paid quarterback ever.
On the other hand, Lamb has aspirations of matching Justin Jefferson’s $35 million annual salary. To make the Cowboys listen to his wish, the all-pro wideout did not show up for OTAs and is holding out on training camp.
Jones usually prefers the wait-and-watch game after taking lessons from Ezekiel Elliott’s deal. Following a couple of amazing seasons (2018 and 2019), Elliot wanted an extension, and similar to Lamb, he chose to hold out, which in the end paid dividends as he signed a 6-year $90 million extension. However, his output plummeted and he was eventually traded to the Patriots in 2023 until he rejoined the Cowboys in the offseason.
To put weight behind his approach, Jones mentioned left guard Zack Martin, who faced similar circumstances last season.
Jones suddenly sprung into action, and before Lamb tried his luck elsewhere, he began negotiations with his agent. In the meantime, several clips showed that the Ohio State graduate trained with a specialist coach in Houston.
Prescott, on the other hand, for the first time dropped a hint about leaving the Cowboys. If they don’t reach a middle ground soon, then it may well happen next year.
