OXNARD, Calif. — CeeDee Lamb remains in a holding (or rather a holdout) pattern at the outset of 2024 training camp, but he's not the only headliner who is currently working through contract negotiations — not by a long shot. One of the others is quarterback Dak Prescott, whose money talks haven't involved a holdout this offseason and, though he playfully poked at the answer, he delivered it nonetheless.
"I'm just here so I don't get fined," he said following the team's first practice.
There's a good bit of jest in that statement — channeling his inner Marshawn Lynch — but it's also true, because he and Lamb are in two wildly different situations.
First, Lamb is still under his rookie contract and, as such, the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) allows the Cowboys to potentially waive any fines he is levied for being absent ($40,000 daily), while Prescott is no longer on a rookie deal and, as such, is prohibited from having any holdout fines waived and, based upon the fairly vast difference in current 2024 salary, the All-Pro quarterback would be hit with fines that are ultimately substantially larger.
The other reason is equally as simple, but on the health front: nobody is allowed to touch Prescott in practice, but Lamb is fair game during full-contact practices, and that means the latter must mitigate a much higher level of risk.
Glad we're all on the same page with that, yes?
And now to what those in control of the contract talks have to say about where everything stands as of July 26.
"I don't think so, just to be very specific. I do not think that this will be his last year with the Cowboys — at all," said owner and general manager Jerry Jones. "Am I being psychotic relative to my mirror? No, no. It's pretty clear, and I wanna say it if it hasn't been clear: I want to say how much Dak Prescott has meant to this team, in a positive way.
"The players do play better when he's out there. He does make his teammates play at a higher level, there's no question about it. So I'm right there in line with his best fan."
That sentiment is both mutual and echoed by Prescott, who has long stated and repeated his desire to remain with the Cowboys until he hangs up his cleats, but he also understands nothing is promised in the NFL, and the recent arc of best friend and re-signed running back Ezekiel Elliott serves as a candid and poignant reminder of this fact.
So while the 2023 NFL MVP runner-up wants nothing more than to be in a Cowboys uniform when the 2025 season rolls around (he can not be franchise tagged again, by the way), he's more locked in on the task in front of him and, in the end, he believes whatever happens will be what's supposed to happen.
"I say it's a two-way street," Prescott said on Thursday. "They have wants, I have wants. This is a business and, obviously, I want to be here.
"Talking about growing up … this is where I became a man but, at the end of the day, it's a business. You know, I'm gonna say it. I want to be here but, you know, when you look up all the great quarterbacks I've watched, they've played for other teams. So my point in saying that is that it's not something to fear.
"That may be a reality for me one day."
Truth is, it may be, and though Jones and the Cowboys will apparently do all they can to prevent that from occurring, neither side is naive.
"Believe it or not, in my life, I've had a lot of things I wanted that I couldn't get because I couldn't afford it," said Jones, hinting at the salary cap. "Have I learned to live with that in 80-something years? You bet I have, and life does go on. And sometimes, when you get a bump like that, you turn around and do better than had you [gotten] what you wanted.
"You would've never known it had you not had to go through it to get there. That's been some of my life with the Cowboys where that's been reflected."
While correct, it's also true that sometimes you accidentally let a good thing go only to realize there's nothing immediately out there that is anywhere near the thing you had, lest the post-Troy Aikman/pre-Tony Romo days be deleted from the history books.
Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because it's not actually grass — it's paint.
A coin always has two sides, after all.
"It may not be my decision," said Prescott.
As it stands, both sides want to see the deal get done and Prescott also made it clear he "has his money" and "would never ask someone else to take less" in order for him to make more on his incoming deal — evidenced by the gesture of allowing his contract to be reworked (not restructured, which doesn't require permission, but actually reworked and agreed to by both sides) to free up several million this past spring ahead of free agency.
Now it's all about getting the deal done, whenever that might be.
"Be where your feet are and make the most of it and be confident in yourself, and make your team better," said the three-time Pro Bowler. "I love my teammates. I love [this] locker room. I love everything about being out here in Oxnard and being a Dallas Cowboy. So that allows me to be free and focus."
And that's the prevailing theme here, from Prescott to head coach Mike McCarthy and every other player and coach:
Focus.
