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July 2, 2024 13 mins
The NFL season is rapidly approaching and the Dallas Cowboys have yet to extend two of their biggest players in Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb. Cam and Zimmel debate what their price tag could end up being and if they're worth said price tag. 
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Episode Transcript

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(00:04):
And we're back to the Craigway Show. Have a message for Craig, share
it by using the talkback feature onthe iHeartRadio WAP. Most Cowboys fans are
in a rude mood as we getcloser and closer to the start of training
camp and the start of the NFLseason. The Dallas Cowboys have not been

(00:26):
back to the NFC Championship Game orthe Super Bowl since the mid nineties,
and each year the drought gets longerand longer. Despite Jerry Jones and Steven
Jones and everybody else affiliated with theCowboys trying to convince us they're all in
that they're getting closer and closer toonce again getting back on the national stage

(00:49):
in winning a Super Bowl. Butso far, whether it's the Tony Romo
era or the Dak Prescott era,the Cowboys have come up short every single
season. And this year is ahuge year. It's a contract year for
Mike McCarthy. Did not get anextension from Jerry Jones, which I think
is the right call. I thoughthe should have been fired this past season

(01:12):
after the Cowboys disgusting showing in GreenBay, getting blown out in the first
and second quarter, the game wasover with at halftime, and questions lingering
about the Cowboys future, not justwith Mike McCarthy after that game, but
also with their quarterback Dak Prescott Dallaswhen they had the chance to possibly extend

(01:34):
him a few years ago, beforeMahomes signed his contract, before the Herbert
contract, before the Borough contract,before the Jared Goff contract, Dallas could
have gotten the range about forty tofifty million, and at the time that
seemed like a lot, especially fora quarterback who was coming off that season
ending injury in twenty twenty one.Questions about whether or not he was the

(01:57):
guy, and fair questions for you. But now, as we reached the
twenty twenty four season and all thesequarterback extensions, the price that Dak Prescott
could command in free agency could conceivablybe sixty million dollars. And you're saying,
wait a second, he hasn't doneanything. He hasn't won a Super

(02:19):
Bowl as a minus rule, hasn'tbeen to the NFC title game. How
can Dak Prescott get sixty million dollars? Well, Trevor Lawrence, what do
you think of Trevor Lawrence? Right? Great college quarterback? Same thing with
Jacksonville. I mean the Jaguars,you know, they've had some good seasons,
but they've kind of had disappointing seasons. Well, he's signed that contract
where he gets fifty five million dollarsand is guaranteed through two thousand and thirty

(02:43):
one. Jared Gonn fifty three milliondollars average annual salary. Justin Herbert,
who I would argue is a littlebit more talented than Dak Prescott fifty two
million dollars, about Lamar Jackson fiftytwo Jalen Hurts. I think Dak Prescott
is in the same tier as JalenHurts of being a quarterback, maybe better
fifty one million dollars in a course, Joe Burrow, who makes the most

(03:04):
out of any quarterback, is fiftyfive. So Prescott is somewhere in that
fifty to sixty million dollar range.And if you're a team like you know,
maybe the Raiders who are looking fora quarterback this next season, I
mean they got Garter Minshew as theirstarter. Maybe you're the New Orleans Saints,
right, the big year for DerekCarr Buccaneers, right, Baker Mayfield's

(03:24):
their starting quarterback. Seattle with GinoSmith. There's a lot of teams who
if Dak Prescott does not get anextension Andrew win at Prescott, which it's
unprecedented for quarterback in his prime ofhis caliber to hit the unrestricted free agency
mark. But if Dak Prescott does, there will be teams who are going

(03:47):
to be willing to bid higher thanthe Dallas Cowboys are. Now you're a
Cowboys fan, Cam, do youlook at any of those quarterbacks you just
mentioned, Minshew, Gino, Smith, Baker Mayfield, and would you rather
have any of those guys ahead ofDak Prescott Because I wouldn't. I'd rather
have Dak than all those guys,the ones I just named. Yeah,
no, the I would rather haveDact than all those. Now, when

(04:10):
you've thrown the number sixty million dollarsor saying, of course, I would
not want Dak Prescott for sixty milliondollars, but that's not how it works.
Yeah, and look that's what thegoing rate of quarterback is. Now.
It's tough, I think for theaverage fan and for most people like
I don't want Jack for sixty milliondollars. But with the con or the
TV contracts and the CBA, that'skind of going right now, Look,

(04:33):
is Dak Prescott more talented than JalenHurts? Maybe? Is Dak Prescott a
longer, tenured, more successful quarterbackthan Trevor Lawrence. Yeah? Probably.
So if I'm Dak's agent, I'msaying, yeah, hey, pay the
man, let's get this deal donenow. I will say this for Cowboys
fans, cam the grass is notalways greener. On the other side,

(04:54):
I've heard a lot of people say, Okay, we'll fire the head coach,
fire the quarterback, get rid ofDak, and let's go what get
a rookie quarterback. If you're gonnago all in, you kind of have
to ride with Dak Prescott at leastfor the time being. At least for
the time being. So, look, you want to sign Dak for sixty
million dollars, Probably not, butthat's kind of the price the guys are

(05:15):
going for right now. Yeah,And I'm curious if maybe they can kind
of negotiate something where kind of likethe Sean Watson's deal he got with two
hundred and thirty million dollars all ofit guaranteed. Now, some of these
quarterback contracts like Joe Burrow to earningseventy five million dollars total value. The
guaranteed part is two nineteen. Samething for Trevor Lawrence two seventy five total

(05:38):
value, two hundred million guaranteed.Is there a way to where the Cowboys
might be able to get Dak fora little bit less than the fifty five
annual the sixty annual, but guaranteemore of it. I like that idea.
I think Cowboys fans would like thisidea even more incentive based contract right,
give him a pretty good number,guarante, but guarantee more of that

(06:00):
money when it comes to winning theNFC, playing in a Super Bowl,
winning a Super Bowl, that iswhat I think more Cowboys fans would want,
and I think more contracts probably needto lean that way. Cam where
hey, if you hit an xamount of touchdown passes, X amount of
passing yards, X amount of winsand playoff wins, that is where the
money in the contract should come,especially for the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.

(06:24):
Like if you're the quarterback of Idon't know, the Buccaneers, yeah,
get your money. You know that'snot a franchise that's expecting to win
the title every single year. Butfor Cowboys and Cowboys fans, the expectation
is to win Super Bowl is somethingthey haven't done in almost thirty years.
Well, I think at thirty twoyears old, Dak Prescott is not going
to want it and send a basedcontract, and I think there's other teams

(06:45):
in the market who are willing togive him a contract without that. Yeah,
it makes sense. I think it'sa great contract, especially for younger
guys. But I think at DakPrescott's age, he's already had a serious
injury before in his career. He'sprobably looking for something more stable, more
guaranteed. I don't think Dak Prescottgoes for something like that. I think
Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins are inthat very similar camp right now, Cam
where they're guys that you know,if you're working on a team, that

(07:10):
you know is rebuilding if you're workingon a team. I still believe in
Dak Prescott. I still think thathe's the type of guy that can win
you a Super Bowl if you putthe right team around him. I just
don't think they put the right teamaround him. And we're going to get
to ceedee Lamb here in a second. I haven't been super high on Ceedee
Lamb. I know a lot ofCowboys fans are, oh, this is
our wide receiver one come out ofcollege cam. I didn't think he was
going to be the same guy asa Jamar Chaser Justin Jefferson, and to

(07:33):
pay him like that would be aproblem to me. I have more of
an issue paying CD than I doDak Prescott really despite cde's Lamb his year
last year, because I think CeedeLamb is the top five receiver in the
league. See, I just don't. I don't think that you pay a
slot receiver and a grant and ceedhe can do more than that. I
get I understand that, but Ipersonally have not seen enough from Cede Lamb

(07:57):
to pay him like Justin Jefferson orJamar Chase. I just haven't. And
I don't think that he's going toturn into that type of guy. He's
not going to turn into a guythat's giving me a eighteen hundred yard season
with double digit touchdowns. I don'tthink that that happens. And in Dallas's
case, the offense hasn't worked ina way to I think highlight the stuff

(08:20):
that Dack does the best, whichis being being a really good game manager
and moving the ball around the field. I look I like Ceedee Lamb,
I don't love Cedee Lamb for theamount that he's asking for, which again
is in that number one, numbertwo receiver in the league money Tyreek kill
money. No, yeah, nowCeedee Lamb because we mentioned the justin Jefferson
part of it, the open upthe show where Jefferson reset the market for

(08:43):
thirty five million dollars per season.And it's an interesting question for a GM
here because you have a draft likeyou did last season with in the NFL
Draft, with all the receivers goingin the first round, and were seeing
teams kind of shy away from resigningtheir stars. I mean Minnesota did with
with Stefan Dix when they traded StefonDiggs to Buffalo and went ahead and drafted

(09:07):
Jefferson. But for the Cowboys goin the next season, are you willing
to let Ceedee Lamb walk because they'vealready done this before Andrew where they let
a Marii Cooper go and Amari Coopercomes back and has a fantastic season with
the Browns and the Cowboys. We'retrying to figure out who that number two
are number three receivers. It feelslike the Cowboys are kind of stuck in
the middle, right, They're notone of the best teams in the NFC,

(09:30):
even though the Vegas is kind ofsetting their odds to be one of
the best teams in the NFC.I don't think either one of us would
pick them ahead of the forty nineers right now what we can they're they're
kind of stuck in this middle area. And again, if they really are
going all in, then yeah,you gotta pay Zack, you gotta pay
Cede Lamb. You got to figureout what you're gonna do with Michael Parsons.
But if we're being realistic and we'relooking at what the Cowboys are,

(09:54):
they're a team that needs to decideto hit the reset button, probably not
resign a lot of these guys andgoing to the draft and try to figure
it out from there. But again, Jerry Jones isn't going to do that.
He's going to continue to try topush this as far as he can.
I think your quarterback dictates how youbuild your team. Look look at
the last two teams in Super Bowlthis past year, the Ken City Chiefs
and the San Francisco forty nine ersKansas City. Yeah, they did not

(10:16):
have the best weapons surrounding Patrick Mahomes, but they did have the best quarterback
on the field. So Kansas Citydoes not have to blanket Mahomes with the
Justin Jeffersons, with the with allof this, the Tyrak Kills, the
Cooper Cups, Tyreek Hills, allof those guys. Now, look at
Rock Purty. Good manager of thegame, right, He's a great,

(10:41):
great level IQ on the football field, but doesn't have maybe all the talent,
can't make all the throws. Whatis he at working for him?
Well, he has a great coach, great offensive mining coach, and Colin
Shanahan, but he also has greatweapons. Christian McCaffrey, Deebo, Samuel
Brandon, Ayukh and George Kittle.Those are four. All four of those

(11:01):
players are better than I think anybodyon the Chiefs roster this past year.
So there's two ways ago about that. Dak Prescott is more of a Rock
Party than he is a Patrick Mahomesin my opinion. So at that point,
if you're trying to go all inand win, you got to surround
him with players like that, likethe CD Lambs like the Brandon Cooks,

(11:22):
but take it up to another leveland go out and get those all star
wideouts and running backs, because that'swhat it's going to take to win a
super Bowl with Dak Prescott. ButI tell you who Dak Prescott thinks he's
closer to it's Patrick Mahomes. Hethinks he should to be paid like Patrick
Mahomes. He doesn't think he needsall this extra stuff, and he does.
I think back to the best teamthat he probably had, the prime
Ezekiel Elliott, the Amari Cooper year, he had a bunch of I look

(11:46):
at that team and I say that'sthe year that they should have really leaned
in and won something cam And ifthat's the case, we're looking back five
six years now the wind that mighthave closed. So look, you go
with the way the quarterback goes.You're right about that. I would pay
Dak Prescott, but that's that's meagain. I think that you can pay

(12:07):
him and still work around and builda team around him. Even at thirty
two. Well, the Cowboys mostlikely will be forced to pay him,
And at this point they're going topay him a number that they could have
gotten him for a lot less twoyears ago. But with that, I
mean, looking at next season salarycap, they got about sixty million dollars
of space to work with. IfDak gets fifty million dollars with that,

(12:28):
Now you're also worried about Ceede Lambbecause this is City Lambs last year of
his Rickie deal, and so ifhe's gonna hold out, he's gonna get
thirty million dollars. Cowboys are overthe cap. So now you've got to
figure out a way to possibly cutthe cap because it doesn't seem like Jerry
Jones is interested in going over thesalary cap like we see with some other
teams. But all of this wascaused by Jerry in the staff and not

(12:52):
being proactive in not signing Dak toanother deal. They don't have a quarterback
in waiting that I think can comein and just elevate the team. They
don't. I don't think they havea rock pretty type just sitting around.
I mean, maybe Trey Lance isthe Brock Purty, but I think there's
a reason why San Francisco went aheadand moved off in the spite being the
number three, number four pick.But a lot of decisions to be made

(13:13):
for the Dallas Cowboys. C.D. Lamb most likely going to hold
out a training camp. Will hebe there for week one? Will the
Cowboys figure out a way to extendhim and extend their quarterback Dak Prescott?
What will they do? We'll findout here, hopefully in the next coming
months. What we do know upnext here on this program is inconceivable and

(13:37):
inconceivable here on that Tuesday, willcontinue here on the Craig Way Show.
You're listening on sports Radio AM thirteenhundred, The Zone
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