Stephen Jones knew his point weeks ago at training camp.

The Cowboys executive vice president cited his father, team owner Jerry Jones, in what he called “old-fashioned Jerryism.”

“Santa doesn’t put the bike under the Christmas tree every year,” Jones said in an interview with Yahoo Sports on August 13. “You have to realize you have to pay for it.”

On Monday, the Cowboys “solved” the problem, as Jones put it, by paying a big contract to their first-round pick in the 2020 draft.

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

This deal is certainly the biggest move Dallas has made in the postseason for those who consider the day before the final roster cuts to still be the postseason. It brings Dallas one step closer to the urgency many fans had hoped the team would show to end its decades-long drought of deep play in the postseason.

However, the Cowboys realize that Lamb’s contract is just one more Christmas gift on their wish list.

Quarterback Dak Prescott and forward Micah Parsons are also expected to get huge deals from Dallas or elsewhere soon, with Prescott’s expiring contract the more pressing of the two.

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

While the Cowboys picked up one contractual win on Monday, they also continue on a path filled with many questions.

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

“Obviously you plan for Dak and you plan for Sid, and the negotiations remain very cordial and everyone’s goal is to be future Cowboys and come up with solutions to the challenges that their contracts have — come up with solutions that make us 1) able to get all three and 2) able to put a good team around them,” Jones said on Aug. 13.

Signing Lamb puts the Cowboys 33 percent closer to that goal, and the deal should give Prescott more confidence in the goals he can achieve if he gets a contract extension.

But will he do so – and if so, when?

In the Cowboys’ signings, who and what comes next?

What could hold up Prescott-Cowboys negotiations?

“Our goal,” Jones said, is to extend Prescott’s contract “before the start of the season.”

There are two main factors that may hinder this outcome.

First, teams often say they want to extend their star players’ contracts without confirming that they want to extend them at the financial level the player is asking for and, in some cases, at the market’s dictate. The Cowboys would certainly want to get their current $40 million quarterback at a similar price, plus invest in a talented, well-paid supporting cast. But do the Cowboys want to pay Prescott the $55 million to $60 million a year that a growing quarterback market might dictate?

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

Although the Cowboys will point to Prescott’s light playoff resume in negotiations, Dallas won 12 games last season as Prescott led the league with 36 goals and finished second in the MVP race.

The second delay is even more bizarre. In most quarterback negotiations, the odds are stacked against the club. Teams often negotiate with years of control over a player’s current contract, not to mention additional controls like franchise and transfer tags. Some teams may even threaten to trade a player.

Surprisingly, the Cowboys have little leverage in negotiating with Prescott.

Their ninth-year starter is entering the final year of his contract, negating the ability to offset the next expensive contract with a reasonable current one. Prescott has already won his last negotiating battle to extend his contract to four years instead of the Cowboys’ preferred five-year deal. He will likely push again to return to the market in a preferred time frame, reducing the flexibility of the Cowboys’ salary cap management.

There’s also the biggest point of leverage Prescott has: He has no-trade and no-tag clauses in his contract.

In other words: If the Cowboys can’t extend Prescott’s contract this year, they can’t “control” him — and they can’t force him to play for them.

Would Prescott prefer that?

We expect the Cowboys to show a lot of their skills against CD.

Prescott is not planning to leave the Cowboys anytime soon.

As Mark Twain once said, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” so any confirmed reports of a divorce between Prescott and the Cowboys are also exaggerated.

But that’s a possibility.

Maybe there is a world where things are better for everyone.

Both the Cowboys and Prescott have to ask themselves during the negotiations: Can we win a Super Bowl together after eight years of failed attempts? Year nine was a lucky charm for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, as well as Washington and Joe Theismann (his seventh starter). John Elway and the Broncos went 14 seasons without a ring before winning seasons 15 and 16.

Still, Elway and the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl three times in the first eight years. Manning reached the conference championship on his sixth try. Theismann was technically in his seventh season when he won the championship.

The Cowboys and Prescott have never reached the NFC Championship Game or the Super Bowl together. Something could change. Do they want to keep trying?

Prescott is thinking about this as 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 concerns, maybe their concern that I can’t do that. Well, if those people want to move on, that’s a trade.”

“It’s a two-way street. Things have to be okay on my end, too.”

Simply put: Prescott could choose not to push for or even accept a contract extension in the coming weeks and months. He could again decide not to sign with Dallas in the spring, which would be a test run for free agency.

Will he find a stronger team than the Cowboys? Potential candidates include the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Prescott is not rushing into making a decision.

“The best way to put it is I’m free,” Prescott said. “Saying I’m free means I’m in no rush — whether that’s before camp, during the season or at the end of the season when other people have the opportunity.”

Right now, there’s at least another year of opportunity for the Cowboys’ offense led by Prescott and Lamb. Lamb posted videos this week of himself practicing his in-and-out routes in the sand as well as working on his body-twisting catches in the gym. Dallas expects a smooth return thanks to his workout routine and pre-existing chemistry with Prescott.

The Cowboys also expect Lamb to stay busy on the field, and Jones’ team didn’t want to compensate the receiver so generously without that guarantee.

“I think he’ll touch the ball a lot,” said Stephen Jones. “For what we’re going to pay him, he’ll be better. I told him he’ll do it.” [head coach] Mike [McCarthy] Things can’t change. He should be targeted 12 to 15 times a game, and we should give him two or three more chances. So I don’t see that changing at all.

“When you pay receivers that kind of money, they get the chance to catch the ball eight to 12 times a game, 15 times, sometimes 15 times.

“He’s our No. 1 go-to guy.”