Dallas Cowboys placed franchise tag on QB Dak Prescott before inking record deal
The Dallas Cowboys placed a second franchise tag on quarterback Dak Prescott for $37.7 million Tuesday afternoon.
But they will remove it once Prescott officially inks his record-setting, four-year, $160 million contract that includes two voidable years on the end to help with the salary cap.
It’s all part of the contract language in what could be the most lucrative contract in NFL history but also one that allows the 27-year-old Prescott to hit the free-agent market in four years at the age of 31 without him having to worry about getting tagged again.
According to profootballtalk.nbcsports.com, Prescott’s agent Todd France insisted the Cowboys tag him this year to make it difficult for them to tag him again because it would cost a 44-percent increase over the cap number from the last year of his contract.
Also, the final two years of the contract void the day before the start of the 2025 league year, after the franchise-tag deadline.
So either the Cowboys sign Prescott to an extension after three years, when the new NFL television deals are expected to kick in, or he gets to hit the free-agent market after four.
Regardless of how he performs, those first three years will be historical and will put a significant amount of money in the bank for Prescott.
It starts with a $66 million signing bonus, which is the biggest in NFL history. Add in his $9 million guaranteed base salary for 2021 and Prescott will make a record $75 million his first year of the deal.
Prescott’s 2022 salary is a guaranteed $20 million. That gives him an NFL-record $95 million guaranteed money at signing. Prescott’s base salary in 2023 is $31 million. It becomes guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2022 league year, which adds up to $126 million guaranteed over the first three seasons.
Prescott has a $5 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2024 league year, along with a 2024 base salary of $29 million.
There are two voidable years tacked on in 2025 and 2026 to help the Cowboys manage the $160 million deal under the salary cap.
Prescott also has a chance to earn a $1 million bonus each year of the deal for leading the Cowboys to the Super Bowl.
Prescott’s average salary of $40 million ranks second in the NFL to Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes at $45 million in new money. But Mahomes signed a 10-year, $450 million before the 2020 season and it includes the final year of his rookie deal, putting its average at $39.8 million.
Prescott’s $42 million over the first three years is the most in NFL history and his $160 million over the first four is $29.3 million more than Mahomes will make over the next four years.
And then Prescott will have a chance at another bite of the apple in free agency, without the threat of the franchise tag looming over him. The Cowboys would either re-sign him at presumably an even greater contract or he would become a free agent.
Mahomes will have seven years left on his deal after 2024.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 12:24 PM.
