OXNARD, Calif. — On Sunday morning, the Cowboys signed tight end Jake Ferguson to a four-year extension worth $52 million with $30 million guaranteed, making him the highest paid tight end in franchise history.
Ferguson, 26, has been a mainstay for the Cowboys offense in his three seasons with the team, hauling in 1,429 yards over three years to go with seven touchdowns.
He’s also been a reliable safety blanket for Dak Prescott, who helped Ferguson earn Pro Bowl honors in his second season with 761 yards and five touchdowns going number 87’s way.
Ferguson becomes the seventh-highest paid tight end in the NFL, and his extension frees up $1.8 million towards the Cowboys salary cap for 2025.
While the 2024 season had it’s fair share of highs and lows for Ferguson including a concussion and a knee injury and concussion, the Cowboys signing him to an extension ahead of a contract year shows their confidence in what Ferguson can continue to do in the long-term. Although it was a frustrating year, Ferguson has been motivated this offseason to return to top form.
“My knee hurt for sure, the concussion was weird, but I’ve said this before, if I’m on the field I should be able to give it my all,” Ferguson said in June. “I definitely wasn’t satisfied with how I played the whole year last year.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played a full season and not scored a touchdown, so that was something I came into this offseason really working on, just really tried to dial in on that and make sure I was lights out.”
Already early on in training camp, Ferguson and Prescott have refreshed their chemistry and connected several times in the seam, the specialty of their connection.
“I love the seam ball, he loves throwing it.” Ferguson said.
Now, the seam ball can continue to be a Prescott to Ferguson special in Dallas for the next four years.
With Ferguson signed, attention now moves to the other key Cowboys players who are coming up for extension on their deals like Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, Tyler Smith and Brandon Aubrey. Cowboys COO/co-owner Stephen Jones said Oxnard was a friendly ground for getting contracts done, so Dallas may not be done just yet.
