New deals for Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb top Cowboys' biggest offseason issues

A year ago, when the Dallas Cowboys fell short of the Super Bowl again, Jerry Jones didn't sound like a man who was willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship. He was admittedly "real hesitant to bet it all for a year." He felt his ‘Boys could do the job with what they had.

Now, after they fell short again this past season with what Jones seemed sure was a championship-caliber roster, the 81-year-old owner has changed his approach. He plans to be aggressive in trying to stop the Cowboys' Super Bowl-less streak at an already painful 28 seasons. He sounds like he's ready to do whatever needs to be done.

"I would anticipate we will be all-in at the end of this year," Jones told reporters at the Senior Bowl last month. "We will push the hell out of it. It will be going all-in on different people than you've done in the past. We will be going all-in. We've seen some things out of some of the players that we want to be all-in on. Yes, I would say that you will see us this coming year not build for the future. 

"It's the best way I've ever said. That ought to answer a lot of questions."

It answers some, but it does leave open one big one: 

What exactly does "all in" mean?

That's something Jones and his team have to answer in the coming months, especially since his team is currently projected to be about $22 million over the NFL salary cap. That doesn't exactly leave them many chips to push to the middle of the table, especially when free agency starts next month. To be aggressive, they'll have to clean up their own financial house first.

Can they do that without losing too many key players? Will they have to mortgage some of their future to make a championship run in 2024? And if so, does that even matter anymore?

Those are all important questions, and the answers start right here with the three biggest offseason issues the Cowboys will have to address:

1. Figuring out how much to pay Dak Prescott

Jones has made it clear that even after watching the Cowboys flame out in the playoffs again, "Dak has done nothing to change my mind about any promise for the future." He also still believes that his team "will go as far as Dak takes us."

If that doesn't sound like a full-throated endorsement, it's because of this: Prescott is entering the final year of a four-year, $160 million contract and he carries an untenable $59.5 million cap hit this season. The Cowboys have to reduce that and the only real way to do that is to give Prescott an extension. And since Prescott was an MVP candidate most of last season, is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, and will turn 31 in July, the going rate for him will surely be around $55 million per year.

There aren't a lot of options here. The deal and the cap situation have Jones backed into a corner. The only real question is how big of a deal will Jones be willing to give to a quarterback who threw for 4,516 yards, 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions while leading the NFL's highest-scoring offense, but has a 2-5 record in the playoffs in his career? It may have to be in the neighborhood of $275 million over five years with nearly $200 million in guarantees, no matter what.

What else can they do? Start over with a new quarterback? That's hardly an "all in" approach. Jones' goal with Prescott has to be keeping him with the franchise while cutting that absurd 2024 cap number at least in half. That alone could clear the Cowboys' current cap deficit and maybe even give them a little cap room to import some help.

2. Deciding whether now is the time to extend the contract of CeeDee Lamb

Jones has made it pretty clear that he thinks Lamb is the best receiver in the NFL, and Lamb has made it clear he wants to be paid like that. That'll mean a deal in the range of $30 million per season. And he's surely worth it after breaking the Cowboys franchise single-season records for receptions and yards (135-1,749), scoring 12 touchdowns and carrying the offense for much of the season.

"He is everything that I thought he would be," Jones said on his weekly radio spot in January. "He has certainly met the mark of everything that we thought he could be when we drafted (him in the first round in 2020). And I think he's just getting started."

But will the Cowboys extend his contract now? Lamb is scheduled to make $17.9 million in 2024 on the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. Conceivably, a well-structured deal could chop $10 million off that cap number, which seemingly makes it an easy decision for a cap-strapped team like the Cowboys. They just might have to make him the highest-paid receiver in history to get it done.

3. Finding an affordable, but powerful running back

The Cowboys used the franchise tag on running back Tony Pollard last season, spending $10.1 million in the hopes he would be the same, dangerous player he was the year before, even after breaking his leg late last season and undergoing offseason ankle surgery. What they got was mediocrity — 1,005 rushing yards, which was two fewer than he had a year earlier despite getting 59 more carries and one more game.

He also only ran for six touchdowns. And while he did catch 55 passes, they only went for 311 yards. Riding Pollard, the Cowboys had the NFL's 14th-ranked rushing attack and were so bad running in short yardage that Mike McCarthy sometimes didn't even try.

Bringing back the 26-year-old Pollard and hoping he's more like his old self nearly two years after his injury isn't a terrible idea. But they'd be crazy to tag him again for $12.4 million. Maybe they can sign him to a deal for 2-3 years worth $6-7 million per year. But they'd be better off dipping into what could be a depressed free-agent market that includes the likes of Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler and D'Andre Swift.

For most teams, the days of spending big money on running backs are over, which means a couple of those free agents are going to have to agree to short-term, incentive-heavy deals. The Cowboys can also lure them with a strong offensive line and their potential as a Super Bowl contender — things that conceivably could increase their value in the future.

But the Cowboys have to do something here. They have to upgrade at that position to take the pressure off Prescott and Lamb and add another option to their sometimes one-dimensional offense. One thing they can't do is just run it back with Pollard as their lone feature back again.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous 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 Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.