If Dak Prescott wants to hit the jackpot, he must get to work this Sunday

When it comes to chips on shoulders, the Dallas Cowboys have a bag full.

From head coach Jason Garrett to offensive coordinator to running back Ezekiel Elliott to the entire team, all are heading into 2018 with the proverbial chip in their shoulder in hopes of proving people wrong after last season’s disappointing campaign.

No one is heading into the season with more pressure — and perhaps a bigger payoff — than quarterback Dak Prescott.

If he bounces back from a sophomore slump in 2017, which was a far cry from his sensational rookie season, all the Cowboys will reap the benefits with a likely run to the playoffs.

But Prescott could hit the jackpot with a huge contract extension from an organization that just signed a marketing deal with WinStar Casino, the first in NFL history with a casino gaming company.

The former 2016 fourth-round pick is making just $630,000 this year, which ranks 30th on the Cowboys, 57th among all NFL quarterbacks and 1,090th overall in the NFL, per Spotrac.

Vice President Stephen Jones and owner Jerry Jones have said they are already budgeting to sign Prescott to a market-value deal for quarterbacks, which could be an average deal of $27 million annually or more.

They consider him a franchise quarterback but nothing is guaranteed until the ink hits the contract.

So to say that Prescott has a lot riding on the season, starting Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, is an understatement.

“It important because it’s the year I am in right now,” Prescott said. ”It’s important for me to go out there and put on a great performance for my teammates. And that’s what I do it for, these guys in this locker room who go out there every day with me. So I feel confident about it.”

So what about the money?

It’s no coincidence that Prescott hired Todd France of the powerful Creative Artists Agency in the offseason. France inked Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald to the richest contract for a defensive player in NFL history.

“It’s kind of known,” Prescott said. “It’s not anything I got to stick in my head, I got to do this, I got to do that to get that. I play my game. I do what I am asked to do. All that stuff will come. It’s not anything I worry about.”

His focus is simply playing well and letting France take care of the money.

But when it comes to his motivation heading into 2018 it goes back to the struggles of last season and to the chip on his shoulder that he and the Cowboys are carrying together.

“I think this whole team does, to answer that question, of course I do,” Prescott said. “I want to portray that or allow that to be contagious to my teammates and hopefully they do as well and hopefully they have a big chip on their shoulder.”

A 13-3 season in 2016 that included the finest numbers of any rookie quarterback in NFL history tumbled into a 9-7 finish last year. Prescott went from 23 touchdowns and four inceptions in 2016 to 22 and 13 last year. His quarterback rating dropped from 104.9 to 86.6 and his completion percentage from 67.8 to 62.9.

“I think it’s a little bit of a combination of things,” Prescott said. “Not making the playoffs last year, the season we had, the season I had. Anytime I play the game, it’s about where I was drafted and the people that were drafted before me so it’s a bunch of things that create that chip and I’m excited to go out there and let it go.”

Prescott said he believes he will be better in 2018 just because he is a year older, more mature and increasingly comfortable in his third year in the league and third year with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

“It might be one of the biggest of things that I’ve adjusted and got more comfortable to going into year three,” Prescott said. “Knowing what he’s going to call, knowing the things that he’s thinking when he calls a second down, depending on the down and distance. He’s setting up for what third-down call and things of that nature.”

Linehan agrees, saying they have open dialogue and certainly see things through the same lens now.

“I think we all want to see it similar — the same,” Linehan said. “You definitely spend a lot of time making sure you are in line. If you’re calling the play, how do you see the play? We spend a lot of time talking. Dak’s a great communicator. He’s very confident and does not have any insecurity whatsoever about being pushed or have any constructive criticism. He’s probably as mature that way as any kid I’ve been around. He’s a lot of fun to work with.”

What Linehan has seen is also a guy motivated to make amends for last year, not so much one who is on the brink of cashing in big.

Elliott was the first one initially talking about having a chip on his shoulder after missing six games last year due to an NFL suspension. But Linehan sees it in Prescott, as well as himself, and the entire team.

It all starts Sunday in Carolina.

“Yeah, I mean, we talked a little bit about Zeke,” Linehan said. “He’s equally as motivated to go out and get off to a really good start and play consistent football this year ... I just think we all feel that ...You set those long-term goals. Say this is where you want to be.

“I think that all goes somewhere in your mind. That’s what you focus on, but now we’re focused on the short term. Now we’re getting ready on a day-to-day basis to get ready to play our first game in Carolina and do our jobs.”