CeeDee Lamb’s contract extension answers the easiest question for the Cowboys. But Dak Prescott represents a trickier problem.

Stephen Jones knew his point of view a few weeks ago during training camp.

The Cowboys’ executive vice president quoted his father, team owner Jerry Jones, in what he called “an old Jerryism.”

“Santa doesn’t put the bike under the Christmas tree every year,” Jones told Yahoo Sports in an interview on Aug. 13. “You have to accept that you’re paying for it.”

On Monday, the Cowboys “agreed,” in Jones’ words, to pay their 2020 first-round draft pick a nice contract.

The Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb have agreed to a four-year, $136 million extension with $100 million guaranteed, multiple sources familiar with the negotiations confirmed to Yahoo Sports.

The deal is arguably the Cowboys’ biggest offseason move for those who consider the day before final roster cuts to be the offseason. The deal brings Dallas closer to the urgency many fans hoped the franchise would show to end a decades-long playoff drought.

And yet the Cowboys know that Lamb’s contract is just one of the proverbial Christmas presents on their wish list.

Quarterback Dak Prescott and defensive end Micah Parsons are also set to get big contracts from Dallas or elsewhere soon, with Prescott’s expiring contract being the more urgent of the two.

Jones said Aug. 13 that Parsons is “not pushing to do anything right now,” though his salary will increase from $2.99 ​​million to $21.32 million under his fifth-year option even if a more lucrative deal isn’t reached by the 2025 season.

As the Cowboys secure a contract victory Monday, they also move forward on a road fraught with many other questions.

Lamb will celebrate getting the most expensive receiver contract for a team that also pays top-tier money to a quarterback, while the franchise celebrates Lamb’s extension dragging on rather than surpassing Justin Jefferson’s market-defining four-year, $140 million deal with $110 million guaranteed.

“Obviously, you plan for Dak and you plan for CeeDee,” Jones said on Aug. 13. “Negotiations remain very cordial and the goal for everyone is to be a Cowboy in the future and find solutions to their contract challenges — find those solutions that will allow us to 1) have all three and 2) build a good team around them.”

Signing Lamb puts the Cowboys at 33 percent of that target. The deal should also give Prescott more confidence in the targets he’ll get if he gets an extension.

But will he do it – and if so, when?

In the Cowboys’ contract orbit, who and what comes next?

What could hinder negotiations between Prescott and the Cowboys?

Jones said “our goal” was to extend Prescott “before the season starts.”

Two key factors could delay this outcome.

The first: Teams often say they want to extend their star players’ contracts without confirming that they want to extend those players’ contracts at the financial level the player asks for and, sometimes, at the level the market demands. There’s no doubt the Cowboys would want their current $40 million quarterback at a similar price, alongside which they could invest in a talented and well-paid supporting cast. But do the Cowboys want to pay Prescott the $55 million to $60 million per year that the booming quarterback market could command?

Thirteen quarterbacks have earned extensions with an average annual value higher than Prescott’s since his 2020 extension.

Although the Cowboys will rely on Prescott’s poor playoff record in negotiations, Dallas won 12 games last season while Prescott led the league with 36 touchdowns and finished second in the MVP race.

The second hurdle is more atypical. In most quarterback negotiations, leverage is heavily weighted toward the club. Teams often negotiate with years of control remaining on a player’s existing contract, not to mention other control tools like franchise tags and transition tags. Some teams might even threaten to trade a player.

The Cowboys have surprisingly little leverage to negotiate with Prescott.

The ninth-year starter is entering the final year of his contract, negating the ability to offset an expensive next contract with a reasonable current deal. Prescott already won his last negotiating battle for a four-year extension rather than the Cowboys’ preferred five-year deal. He’ll likely push again to get back on the market in a preferred time frame, reducing the Cowboys’ salary cap flexibility.

And then there’s Prescott’s biggest advantage: He has no-trade and no-tag clauses in his contract.

In other words: If the Cowboys fail to extend Prescott’s contract this year, they won’t be able to “control” him – they won’t be able to force him to play for them.

Would Prescott prefer this?

Expect the Cowboys to show CeeDee a lot of Dak

Prescott has no plans to leave the Cowboys anytime soon.

Just as Mark Twain once said that “the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated,” so too are all the surefire rumors of a divorce between Prescott and the Cowboys.

But it is a possibility.

And maybe there is a world where it’s best for everyone.

The Cowboys and Prescott each have to ask themselves this question as they negotiate: Can we win a Super Bowl together after eight years of trying? Year nine was a lucky one for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, and Washington and Joe Theismann (its seventh starter). John Elway and the Broncos went 14 seasons without a ring before winning years 15 and 16.

And yet Elway and the Broncos reached three Super Bowls in their first eight years. Manning reached the conference championship in his sixth attempt. Theismann was technically in his seventh season when he won it all.

The Cowboys and Prescott have never reached the NFC title or the Super Bowl together. It’s possible that something will change. Do they want to keep trying?

Prescott thinks about that when he considers his next contract.

“I deserve it,” he told Yahoo Sports. But also, “this game is judged on winning the Super Bowl and I understand people’s angst, maybe their angst and the fact that I didn’t do that. Hey, if these people want to move on, it’s a business.”

“It’s a two-way relationship. Things have to be good on my side too.”

Simply put: Prescott could choose not to ask for, or even accept, an extension in the coming weeks and months. He could again decide not to sign with Dallas in the spring, testing free agency.

Will he find stronger teams than the Cowboys? The New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers are among the potential suitors.

Prescott is in no rush to make a decision.

“The best way to say it is I’m a free agent,” Prescott said. “To say I’m a free agent means I’m not in a rush, whether it’s before camp, during the season or at the end of the season when other people have opportunities.”

For now, there’s at least another year of opportunity left for the Cowboys’ offense led by Prescott and Lamb. Lamb posted videos this week of him practicing getting in and out of routes in the sand and working on body contortions in the gym. Dallas expects a smooth return thanks to its workout routine and preexisting chemistry with Prescott.

The Cowboys also expect Lamb to stay busy on the field. The Joneses didn’t want to pay a receiver so handsomely without that assurance.

“I think he’s going to touch the ball a lot,” Stephen Jones said. “For the price we’re going to have to pay for it, he better do it. I told (head coach) Mike McCarthy that things can’t change. He’s got to be targeted 12-15 times a game, we’ve got to give him a few more. So I don’t see that changing at all.”

“When you pay receivers that size, they can catch the ball eight to 12 times a game, 15 times, sometimes 15 times.

“He is our number one go-to guy.”