3 Cowboys stars who could follow Dak Prescott out the door in 2025

It's really anyone's guess what the Dallas Cowboys do with quarterback Dak Prescott. While Ian Rapoport's explosive report earlier this week might have been exaggerated for social media engagement, he wouldn't have said a path has been cleared for Prescott to reach free agency in 2025 if there wasn't a chance of that happening.

CBS Sports insider Josina Anderson has since contradicted Rapoport's intel. Per Anderson, the Cowboys want to work out an agreement with Prescott and that a deal could happen as soon as before next season.

Anderson added that "the team is not presently charting a path to let Prescott go to free agency, despite some chatter to the contrary."

That's reassuring, but the longer Prescott goes without a deal, the more likely it becomes he walks next year. If that were to happen, Dallas could blow it all up and move on from other high-profile players. With that in mind, here are some Cowboys stars who could follow Dak out the door in 2025.

3. Brandin Cooks

The Cowboys made a genius move last March when they renegotiated Brandin Cooks' contract, turning $8 million of Cooks' $12 million salary into a signing bonus. It gave him an $8 million base salary in 2024, which is a bargain for a six-time 1,000-yard receiver.

A free agent in 2025, though, it's hard to envision the Dallas re-signing Cooks if Prescott leaves. At that point, Cooks would be entering his age-32 season. Praised for consistency throughout his career, Cooks has failed to top 60 catches and 700 receiving yards in back-to-back seasons.

In Cooks' defense, he's still a fringe WR2 that can take the top off a defense. While his production fluctuated throughout the 2023 season, his eight touchdowns were one off his career-high and his most since 2016, his third year in the league.

Trading for Cooks was a brilliant move by the Cowboys -- one of a select few over the last handful of years -- but we're hard-pressed to see this partnership lasting more than two years given Dallas would be starting over at quarterback.