Dallas Cowboys, not looking to move up in NFL Draft, like Dak Prescott’s progress
For Dallas Cowboys fans who want to see their team move up in the draft to secure yet another offensive weapon, you need to know Jerry Jones says that that is not going to happen.
Moving up, the team owner said, should be reserved for moving into position to select a franchise quarterback. Besides, the Cowboys checked that box when they made Dak Prescott the richest player in franchise history with the second-richest contract in NFL history, when they signed him to a four-year, $160 million contract last month.
“We just really made a big effort to get signed up with the Dallas Cowboys at quarterback,” Jones said. “So it’s pretty obvious there that we’ve decided how we’re going to go into the future with our key quarterback decision. I’m talking about up at the top with a quarterback.”
The speculation was that Jones might be willing to try to move up before Thursday, Day 1 of the NFL Draft, from their current spot at No. 10 in order to secure the services of Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, a player who is seen as a generational talent.
Pitts has been linked to the Cowboys as a possible option, fueled largely by an ESPN report that Jones was infatuated with the idea of adding him to an explosive offense that already includes Prescott and receivers Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup.
But on Tuesday, while speaking reporters at the team’s headquarters, Jones shot down the idea of moving up to take Pitts.
“It’s not legitimate,” Jones said. “Probably an exaggeration as fascination. I may have used the word myself but the point is it’s a distortion for this draft and where we are there. To imply something is just not the case.”
Jones said the Cowboys believe Pitts is talented and could help them win a Super Bowl. But he also said the team is not going to spend “an inordinate collateral or value to maneuver up there so we can get to him.” The belief is that landing Pitts would cost them two players, solid players who could also help the team win.
So, instead, the mission of getting back to the Super Bowl gets done by building through the draft, getting the best value for all their picks and building around Prescott.
Prescott’s status
In terms of Prescott’s rehab from a fractured ankle that sidelined him for the final 11 games last season to him being in the building and leading his teammates again, vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys “couldn’t be happier.”
“He’s just doing an amazing job,” Stephen Jones said. “His work ethic, of course, it’s contagious with his teammates. One of the things that stuck out about Dak’s leadership last year is he was right back in the facility right after he was hurt. His leadership is elite. And of course he’s doing that on the field, and he’s just making a tremendous amount of progress.”
“We feel like he’ll be 110 percent ready to go.”
Coach Mike McCarthy wouldn’t commit to Prescott doing 11-on-11 work during OTAs or minicamp.
But he echoed Stephen Jones in assessment and excitement, while acknowledging that he watched Prescott go through his most extensive work so far as recently as last Saturday.
“Well, he’s made a lot of progress lately,” McCarthy said. “He’s throwing now, doing the footwork drills. He’s made a lot of progress. Very disciplined in his regimen. He’s here almost every day, so I’d say he’s right on track or maybe a little ahead of schedule.”
The Cowboys are one of the few teams in the league who are almost at 100 percent participation in the NFL’s offseason program and Prescott is front and center.
McCarthy believes Prescott’s presence in the offseason will make a big difference for the Cowboys in 2021 after not having him around in his first offseason with the team in 2020 due to the pandemic and the quarterback boycotting the facility due to a contract impasse.
Prescott didn’t get know McCarthy or work with the team until the start of training camp last year.
“I look at Dak Prescott as the keystone to our football team,” McCarthy said. “And I’ve always coached the team through the eyes of the quarterback, because that’s just the way that I believe you have to develop your football team. So, it’s great to have his contract situation intact and I can’t say enough about — you see him here every day. He puts a full day in pretty much four days a week here. So, he’s having an excellent offseason.”
