Cowboys, QB Prescott finally have agreement on new contract
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 explayers 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.
Men’s basketball
GONZAGA REMAINS NO. 1,
BAYLOR BACK TO NO. 2 IN AP TOP 25 >> 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-to-wire 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.