It hasn’t even been two years since Dak Prescott signed his four-year, $240 million extension with the Dallas Cowboys. Apparently, the team could already be heading toward another contract discussion soon. While that may sound surprising, it’s the reality of paying a franchise quarterback in today’s NFL. Prescott is coming off a strong 2025 season with 4,552 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. And if he delivers at that level again, Dallas may have no choice but to start talks early because of salary cap concerns.

“After the Cowboys restructured Prescott’s deal, his number is set to jump to over $75M in 2027 and over $85M in 2028,” wrote Mark Heaney of Inside The Star. “That is an absurd amount of money for one player to count against the cap… and you can bet Dallas will find a way to avoid that hit. The only real way to do that is a contract extension. A new deal would be about pushing money around, lowering those short-term cap hits, and giving the front office more room to actually build around him, not just be about keeping Prescott in Dallas for longer.”

By restructuring his deal to clear space for the current season, Dallas gave itself immediate breathing room, but it came at a massive cost. The front office essentially kicked the financial can down the road, creating those astronomical cap hits of $75 million in 2027 and $85 million in 2028.

Dallas cannot field a competitive roster with one player consuming nearly 30% of the entire team’s salary cap. They will be forced to sign him to a new deal before 2027 simply to break that giant cap hit into smaller, manageable pieces spread across future years.

Because the Cowboys must extend him to lower those numbers, Prescott and his agent hold immense leverage in negotiations. He can demand top-of-market guarantees because Dallas cannot afford to just let him play out the contract at those numbers.

The ultimate goal of the next extension won’t just be about rewarding Prescott. But rather freeing up $20 million to $30 million in cap space so the team can actually afford to re-sign other stars such as Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb, and build a functional roster around Prescott.

While Dak Prescott’s contract situation can take different paths, the Cowboys received some positive news about their offense from an NFL analyst.

The Dallas Cowboys will enter the 2026 season with one of the best offenses in the league

Despite having a horrible defense that allowed 511-points, with an average of 30.1 points per game, the Dallas Cowboys boasted one of the best offenses in the league. They finished as the second-best offense in the league behind the Los Angeles Rams. Alongside Dak Prescott’s 4,552 passing yards and 30 touchdown passes, WR George Pickens also added 1,429 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 93 receptions.

To add a cherry on top of the cake, running back Javonte Williams recorded a career-high 1,201 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. Entering the 2026 season, they have more firepower with a fit CeeDee Lamb coming back to the team. So, with all these stars, how well can the offense do this year? ESPN’s Bill Barnwell seems to have an answer to that.

“The Cowboys might claim to have the best one-two punch in the league at wide receiver between CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens,” wrote ESPN’s Bill Barnwell. Between Pickens and tight end Jake Ferguson, who made it back to the Pro Bowl after catching more than 80% of the passes thrown in his direction last season, it’s tough to see Lamb earning 181 targets again anytime soon.

“Javonte Williams was a pleasant surprise at running back in 2025, staying healthy for the majority of the season and averaging nearly 5 yards per carry along the way. He had struggled to stay on the field since an early-career knee injury, so if he can keep this up in 2026, it’ll be difficult to find many faults with what the Cowboys can roll out for Dak Prescott.”

Barnwell ranked the Cowboys 7th in offense. It comes as no surprise, considering all the players they have. Besides all the big names, there is also running back Jake Ferguson, who scored eight touchdowns last year, compared to zero in 2024. They have all the players needed for their offense. With little consistency, they could be the best offense in the league.

But they still need their defense to perform. Last season, they finished 7-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Critics blamed the defense for that. This season, they have added the likes of Rashan Gary and Jalen Thompson and picked safety Caleb Downs in the draft. If they can replace the gap left by DE Micah Parsons and build a strong defense, they could be a proper Super Bowl contender. It remains to be seen whether this year is also an offensive show or if the team as a whole performs well.