Cowboys agree to pay Prescott richest deal in club’s history
The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott have finally agreed on a contract two years after negotiations first started with the star quarterback.
The team said the agreement was reached Monday with further details to be announced later. The deal comes a day before a deadline to put the franchise tag on Prescott for a second straight year at a salary cap charge of $37.7 million.
Prescott played on a $31.4 million franchise tag in 2020 before his season ended with a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle in Week 5.
If the agreement is long term, it figures to be the richest contract in franchise history. Owner Jerry Jones has signed three players to deals of at least $100 million: former quarterback Tony Romo, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and receiver Amari Cooper.
Before the gruesome injury, the 27-year-old Prescott had started every game since the beginning of his rookie year after replacing an injured Romo during the 2016 preseason. JUDGE TOSSES SUIT OVER ‘RACE-NORMING’ IN NFL DEMENTIA TESTS >> A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that challenged “racenorming” in dementia tests for retired NFL players, a practice that some say makes it harder for Black athletes to qualify for awards that average more than $500,000.
A hearing had been set for Thursday. The judge instead ordered the NFL and the lead lawyer in the overall $1 billion settlement to resolve the issue through mediation. That process would appear to exclude the Black players who sued.
“We are deeply concerned that the Court’s proposed solution is to order the very parties who created this discriminatory
system to negotiate a fix,” said lawyer Cyril V. Smith, who represents ex-players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport. “The class of Black former players whom we represent must have a seat at the table and a transparent process.”
The demographic factors that doctors consider during testing for dementia often include race. If so, lawyers say, the testing assumes that Black athletes start with worse cognitive functioning than white people — which means it’s harder for them to show a deficit. Both Henry and Davenport were denied awards but would have qualified had they been white, according to their lawsuit.
College football
MILES OUT AT KANSAS AFTER LSU REPORT REVEALED ALLEGATIONS >> Les Miles is out as Kansas’ head coach just days after he was placed on administrative leave amid sexual misconduct allegations from his tenure at LSU.
Kansas announced Miles’ departure Monday night, describing it as a mutual agreement to part ways.
Last week, LSU released a 148-page review by a law firm about the
university’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints. It described how Miles “tried to sexualize the staff of student workers in the football program by, for instance, allegedly demanding that he wanted blondes with big breasts, and ‘pretty girls.’”
MLB
CORMIER, PITCHED IN 1988, ‘08 OLYMPICS, DIES AT 53 >> Rheal Cormier, the durable left-hander who spent 16 seasons in the majors and remarkably pitched in the Olympics before and after his time in the big leagues, died Monday. He was 53.
The Philadelphia Phillies said Cormier died of cancer at his home in New Brunswick, Canada.
Cormier owned a neat nook in Phillies history: He was the winning pitcher in the final game that Philadelphia won at Veterans Stadium in 2003, and also was the winner in the first game the Phils won after moving into Citizens Bank Park in 2004.
Men’s basketball
GONZAGA REMAINS NO. 1, BAYLOR BACK TO NO. 2 IN AP TOP25>> Gonzaga’s bid to go wire-to-wire No. 1 is in its final week. The Zags received
61 of 63 first-place votes from a media panel in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll as they attempt to become the first wire-towire No. 1 since Kentucky in 2014-15.
Baylor had two firstplace votes and moved back into the No. 2 slot after dropping a spot last week.
CREIGHTON’S MCDERMOTT REINSTATED AFTER ‘PLANTATION’ REMARK >> Creighton announced it has lifted Greg McDermott’s suspension for making racially insensitive remarks to his players after a game last week.
McDermott created a firestorm for twice using the term “plantation” as part of an analogy urging team unity. The university suspended McDermott indefinitely on Thursday after he had coached in a Wednesday loss at Villanova.
Women’s basketball
STANFORD CLIMBS TO NO. 2 IN WOMEN’S AP TOP 25 >> Buoyed by an impressive run to the Pac-12 Conference championship, Stanford jumped two spots to No. 2 in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll.