The Dallas Cowboys‘ slow-moving offseason and free agency has more than just fans complaining about the team’s choices since the end of the 2023 season. On ESPN’s Get Up on Friday, analyst Dan Orlovsky explained why, if he were Jerry Jones, he would have chosen to move on from Mike McCarthy, Dak Prescott and more after the playoffs.
Dallas didn’t do major firings after losing their first playoff game to the Packers, though defensive coordinator Dan Quinn did leave to take the Commanders head coaching job and several other assistants left for other jobs as well. McCarthy hasn’t received a contract extension and is now in his final contract year with the Cowboys.
“I said (move on from Prescott) the day after the Green Bay game, I would have moved on from everyone though,” Orlovsky said. “At some point, this version is as good as we’re going to be and part of it is knowing what’s down the line financially. There’s a $60 million cap hit. We’re sitting there going, ‘Ok, he’s a good quarterback, he’s had moments of really good quarterback play, but for some reason, as a team, we can’t get past who we need to get past to get to the ultimate goal.'”
“If they were serious about winning Super Bowls… I know there’s a no-trade clause in his contract but players waive no-trade clauses for certain situations. Is there a way they could have moved on from Mike McCarthy, traded Dak Prescott, re-gained assets and built the football team up and maybe gotten a different player at quarterback that would have done different things in different situations. It’s the reality of who the Cowboys are, in many ways this version of them has peaked.”
Orlovsky’s hot take didn’t get quite the reaction he was looking for from fellow commentator Domonique Foxworth.
“Move on from everybody? That is the biggest knee-jerk overreaction,” Foxworth responded. “Dan has been on point all day. He almost made it through an entire two-hour show without saying anything ridiculous. I was proud of you and agreeing with you. And now you said move on from everybody? Because you lost a playoff game? Let’s cool it. They’re on the doorstep of winning a championship.”
Cowboys working on extension for Dak Prescott
Though he’s not waiving his no-trade clause, Dak Prescott did agree to a contract restructure already this offseason to help get the team $4 million in cap space. A larger extension is on the way, but the team isn’t giving away any tidbits about the negotiations.
Despite limited movement so far in free agency, executive vice president Stephen Jones insisted that the Cowboys have enough cap space to “cut and shoot” at will.
“Dak’s been willing to work with us,” Jones said. ‘We’ve had good discussions about him and his contract. He’s all-in in working with us, and we’ve had personal discussions with Dak as well. Other than that, that’s all we’ll say about that, our negotiations with him. We want to keep that private. Won’t get into timelines, but certainly a priority of ours.”
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