Jerry Jones, Cowboys staff headed to Senior Bowl. Will he address Dak Prescott contract?
The Super Bowl is still two weeks away.
But the path to the 2024 NFL Draft is full swing.
While some scouts and coaches have been at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters in Frisco in preparation for the East-West Shrine Game, set for the Thursday at the Ford Center, most of the NFL world is headed to Mobile, Alabama for the 75th Senior Bowl, which will feature more than 100 of the country’s top NFL draft hopefuls.
The game will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at Whitney Hancock Stadium on the University of South Alabama campus.
In the past five NFL drafts, more than 85% of Senior Bowl players wound up making an active 53-man NFL roster at some point during their rookie season.
Owner/general manager Jerry Jones will lead the Cowboys contingent, including executive vice-president Stephen Jones and vice president of player personnel Will McClay at the Senior Bowl as group seeks options for the bushel of five picks in 2024 NFL Draft, led by the 24th overall choice.
It will also offer Jones an opportunity to speak to the media for the first time since sending out a statement in an email regarding the team’s decision to keep Mike McCarthy as head coach.
Jones has not spoken publicly since the unconscionable season-ending loss to the Green Bay Packers.
It was at the Senior Bowl a year ago when Jones and vice-president Stephen Jones said they planned on signing quarterback Dak Prescott to a contract extension that keep see him with the Cowboys for another decade.
The Cowboys didn’t get a deal done last year and Prescott went on to have the best season of his career, leading the NFL with 36 touchdowns passes — before being a big part of the another playoff failure by the franchise.
Are the Cowboys still bullish on Prescott?
How the Jones family approaches Prescott off season will tell the story. He has a $59 million cap hit in 2024. A contract extension would lower the cap number to help the Cowboys sign other players to put a winner on the field in what should be a make-or-break season for McCarthy.
But it would tie Prescott to the team at an exorbitant cost when he hasn’t shown he can get them to the NFC title game, let alone the Super Bowl.
What will they say now?
As far the Senior Bowl is concerned, the Cowboys have a plethora of needs to explore, including offensive tackle, linebacker, running back, defensive tackle, cornerback and possibly quarterback.
Top players in the game
There are at least eight players from national champion Michigan in the play for the draft. But the biggest name from the college football playoff is Washington quarterback and Heisman finalist Michael Penix.
Other national award winners in this year’s Senior Bowl include Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson (Remington Trophy), North Carolina State linebacker Payton Wilson (Butkus Award, Chuck Bednarik Award), Iowa punter Tory Taylor (Ray Guy Award), Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat (Outland Trophy) and UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu (Lombardi Award and Ted Hendricks award).
Missouri’s Cody Schrader, who led the SEC in rushing, headlines the running backs in the game.
Five Longhorns worth watching
Sweat heads a list of five Texas Longhorns, who have the largest contingent of Lone Star State schools in play. The others are defensive tackle Byron Murphy, a potential first round pick, tackle Christian Jones, receiver Jordan Whittington and linebacker Jaylan Ford.
TCU’s top NFL prospects
A year ago, TCU followed up its dream run to the College Football Playoff championship game with five Horned Frogs at the Senior Bowl: quarterback Max Duggan, guard Steve Avila, receiver Darius Davis, linebacker Dee Winters, and defensive tackle Dylan Horton.
TCU sent a trio of players to this year’s game, including offensive lineman Brandon Coleman, tight end Jared Wiley and running back Emani Bailey.
