Jared Goff extension won’t make Dak Prescott deal any cheaper

Dak Prescott should be sending Jared Goff a fruit basket. Or maybe a whole orchard.

Goff’s new contract, with a new-money average of $53 million per year, will give Prescott even more leverage in his effort to get his third deal from the Dallas Cowboys.

Prescott already had plenty of leverage, thanks to a cap number in excess of $55 million this year and a straight line to free agency in 2025. The Goff deal gives Prescott even more reason to dig in and push for more than whatever the Cowboys were willing to pay.

And it proves yet again that waiting is almost always a mistake by the team. In nearly every case, the passage of time makes a deal more expensive. Only a truly serious injury or a dramatic dip in performance will work to a team’s benefit when the team drags its feet.

The Cowboys have a bad habit of dragging their feet when it comes to contracts for key young players. They did it with Dak starting in 2019. They did it with running back Ezekiel Elliott, who held out for much of his fourth training camp. They’re doing it with receiver CeeDee Lamb and with Dak a second time. And they quite possibly will do it with linebacker Micah Parsons.

Who knows? Maybe the Cowboys will let Dak go to the open market, daring him to find a better deal elsewhere. Maybe he will. Regardless, the Goff deal makes it reasonable for Prescott to dig in. The only question is whether the Cowboys will give up and let Dak see what’s out there, hoping he’ll eventually take their best offer — and refusing to give him a contract with a value beginning with a six.