Dak Prescott ‘confident’ about Dalton Schultz’s Cowboys future amidst hold out

On Monday, NFL’s Tom Pelissero reported that Dallas Cowboys tight end Dalton Schult would not attend the Cowboys’ remaining voluntary OTAs to show his frustration with a lack of contract talks with the team. The tight end is currently on a $10.9 million franchise tag but has expressed multiple times that he hopes to be able to stay in Dallas long term.

Although Schultz told the press just last week that he is staying out of things to let his agents handle the contract talk and focus on OTAs, the story seems much different this week. Missing some voluntary OTAs is quite normal. They are voluntary after all. However, if Schultz decides to hold out as mandatory minicamp takes place for veterans starting June 14, he could begin to incur fines for his absence.

While the tight end has yet to mention any type of frustration until now, it isn’t surprising that he wants to hold out. He just saw Cleveland’s David Njoku get a four-year deal for $55 million. Njoku has been far less productive in the last few years and still got a massive paycheck from the Browns. Schultz had almost 700 more receiving yards and double the touchdowns that Njoku had in the previous two seasons.

So, what does the man who constantly threw to Schultz as a reliable target think about all of this? Apparently, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott isn’t worried. When asked about the situation at the team’s recent charity home run derby, the quarterback said that he and Schultz are in touch all the time and the QB knew that his tight end would be doing this.

Dak Prescott is confident that the Cowboys and Dalton Schultz will come to an agreement despite the TE holding out of OTAs

Perhaps Prescott is so sure because he’s been there himself. The quarterback has held out for contract reasons, too, and he knows it’s an incredibly common thing to do in this day and age. Despite the fact that the Cowboys have just over a month to figure out a long-term solution with Schultz, Prescott seems to think the team was prepared for this and will handle it.

As mentioned, Schultz won’t incur any penalty for missing the rest of optional offseason programming. However, when mandatory camp starts, the tight end will be subject to fines. According to CBS, the current NFL collective bargaining agreement allows franchises to fine players not under rookie deals up to $50,000 per day for every missed day of mandatory training camp.

From his past comments, it seems like Schultz wants to be in Dallas. But now, we are starting to see that he’s realizing how much he is worth to this team. Will the Cowboys put together a long-term deal? Will Schultz hold out past voluntary training and be willing to pay fines to prove a point? The tight end has made his move. Now, it’s time to see if the front office responds.