tar receiver CeeDee Lamb has his shiny and lucrative contract extension done and dusted — but for the Dallas Cowboys, the contract drama is only just beginning.

While Lamb is a key cog in the Cowboys‘ offense as the 2024 NFL season dawns, quarterback Dak Prescott plays the most important position on the field — and he doesn’t have a deal in place beyond this season, which kicks off in Kansas City on Thursday night. Prescott has left open the possibility that he could leave the Cowboys in 2025, and this week will be decisive for his future as contract negotiations are unlikely to take place during the season.

Are Dak and the Cowboys close to an agreement?

NFL insider Ian Rapoport indicated this week that while Prescott and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones continue to negotiate a new deal, an agreement still seemed to be some way off in the distance. With Dallas opening the season against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, time is not exactly on the Cowboys’ side — Prescott has long known that some team will ink him to a record-setting contract if it isn’t Dallas, and he enters this season with a league-record $55.1 million salary cap hit.

However, new developments Thursday have created optimism that Prescott and the team that drafted him in 2016 can find middle ground and agree to an extension at long last. Veteran Cowboys reporter Clarence Hill has revealed that Prescott and the team are “on the same page” in terms of extension length and an agreement is “closer than it has been“.

Meanwhile, Jones spoke with ESPN‘s Stephen A. Smith in an interview that aired this week, and he directly discussed Dallas’ future with Dak under center — letting it “slip” that the Cowboys have negotiated the framework of a five-year deal with their longtime QB1.

It remains to be seen if negotiations reach the finish line before Sunday afternoon, but for Cowboys and Prescott fans, the latest update is undoubtedly a positive one in the face of the alternative: watching Dak enter a walk year, with no obvious successor in place.