Dallas Cowboys must ignore the noise and sign QB Dak Prescott as they promised
The Dallas Cowboys have one job this offseason — sign quarterback Dak Prescott to a long-term contract extension.
They must do what they said they were going to do as far back as February 4, 2017.
It was the night before Super Bowl LI in Houston during a celebration for owner Jerry Jones being elected into the Pro Bowl Football Hall of Fame.
One member of the family hierarchy, still glowing from Prescott’s impressive rookie season as well as the Hall call, said they would one day make him the richest player in Cowboys history.
Prescott has gone on to become the face of the franchise while developing into a top 10 quarterback in the NFL.
Yet, there still has been no deal.
Former Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who was at the Houston Public Library that night for Jones’ big bash, has now retired twice since then.
And the Cowboys still have no deal with Prescott.
What the Cowboys knew then is even more certain now.
They have the best quarterback from the 2016 draft class, it’s a group that includes Jared Goff and Carson Wentz who were picked first and second overall by the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles. (Prescott was selected 135th.)
The darlings of the 2016 draft have gotten contract extensions — and subsequently given their teams buyers’ remorse — Wentz was benched in 2020 and the Rams have said Goff will have to battle for his starting job in training camp.
And yet there still has been no deal for Prescott, who played the 2020 season on the one-year franchise tag for $31.4 million and is currently slated to be a free agent.
Now, there are concerns of whether they will ever get a deal done and whether they should pursue other possible options via trade or the upcoming NFL Draft.
Those whispers are becoming noisy chatter with each passing day and another potential option on the market.
The answers should be “no” and “hell no.”
Don’t even think about a deal for Dallas native Matt Stafford, the Detroit Lions quarterback who is on the trading block.
Stafford may be the best quarterback in Detroit history, but is anyone lining up for the Lions’ playoff history? At 32, Stafford is five years older than Prescott, and he had no playoff wins in his 12 NFL seasons. In short, he’s a downgrade from Prescott in terms of play, leadership, age and resume.
The stakes are different with quarterback Deshaun Watson declaring that he wants outs of the mess that is the Houston Texans organization.
Let me repeat, the stakes are different.
First of all, Prescott is unsigned. You can’t trade a free agent.
And while franchise players can be traded, they can’t be traded until the tender is signed thus making it a no-trade clause.
Even if Prescott were to sign a tender and agree to be traded, it would have to be to a desired destination of his choice coinciding with a long-term contract extension.
As far as the Cowboys are concerned, they would not be saving money to acquire Watson, who signed a four-year, $156 million contract extension before the 2020 season.
What’s more is they would have to still give up a top draft pick or two to the Texans for a quarterback who may be marginally better than Prescott.
Prescott was second in passing yards 2019 and was leading the way with an NFL-record pace in 2020 before suffering a fractured ankle in Week 5. Watson wound up leading the NFL in passing yards in 2020.
A recent ESPN hypothetical trade proposal had the Cowboys sending the Texans a first-round pick in 2021 and 2023 along with Prescott to the Texans for Watson. And that was the 13th most likely destination for Watson.
No, sir.
As far as drafting a quarterback is concerned, we must be reminded that the Cowboys have been terrible at picking quarterbacks since Troy Aikman was selected first overall in 1989.
Remember, the quarterback abyss between Aikman’s retirement after the 2000 season and Tony Romo’s ascension in 2006 highlighted by Jerry Jones personally targeting Quincy Carter in the second round in 2001.
That didn’t turn out so well.
The Cowboys lucked into Romo as an undrafted free agent becoming the team’s all-time leading passer.
They also lucked into Prescott in the fourth round in 2016 after twice failing to trade up to get preferred quarterbacks in Paxton Lynch in the first round and Connor Cook earlier in the fourth round.
They even took defensive end Charles Tapper in the fourth round before finally choosing Prescott.
All three are out of the NFL, while Prescott is the face of the franchise.
Yet, there are still some who think the Cowboys should try their hand at drafting a quarterback of the future with the 10th overall pick and use the Prescott money to fortify the defense.
What’s the old saying? A bird in the hand beats two in the bush.
That goes double for a team that can’t shoot straight in the draft at quarterback.
And this is a quarterback driven league more than ever now with Patrick Mahomes working on his second straight title with the Kansas City Chiefs who’ll take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV next Sunday.
The Buccaneers had a great defense, but they went from 7-9 in 2019 to 11-5 because they added six-time champion Tom Brady at quarterback.
The game is about the quarterback.
The Cowboys have no choice but to get a deal done with Prescott.
This is a negotiation they won’t “win,” although the win would be to sign him.
And the clock is ticking, and Prescott has all the leverage.
The first day the Cowboys can place a second franchise tag on Prescott to secure exclusive negotiating rights is Feb. 23. A second tag would cost $37.7 million.
The Cowboys would have up until July 15 to sign him to a long-term deal, but waiting that long would do no one any good.
At that point, Prescott would just be months away from unrestricted free agency and the Cowboys facing the prospect of letting him get away with nothing to show for it.
It all makes the Cowboys’ refusal to acquiesce to Prescott’s demand for a four-year deal kind of silly.
They have one job to do, and they really don’t have any viable options.
So the Cowboys need to ignore the noise, and do what they said they were going to do.
Sign Dak Prescott.
