Does giving QB Dak Prescott a contract extension make the most sense for Dallas Cowboys?
Now that the dust has settled on arguably the most disappointing season of quarterback Dak Prescott’s pro career, fostering think pieces on whether the Dallas Cowboys should move on from their franchise quarterback and illegitimate rumors on them being interested in Ohio State star C.J. Stroud as a possible replacement, it’s time for the truth to be come out.
Less than a month after saying he wants Prescott to be the Cowboys quarterback for another 10 years or more and would consider signing to a contract extension this off season, vice president Stephen Jones acknowledged to ESPN at the NFL Scouting Combine that a new deal for the seven-year veteran is indeed in the team’s plans.
“We’ve got to have a plan to ultimately extend Dak,” Jones said.
Ultimately, it’s the best plan of action for the Cowboys and Prescott, who has two years left on the four-year, $160 million contract he signed in 2021.
Jones has made it clear that the team is just as committed to Prescott now as it was then, possibly even more so.
“Dak is the key guy on this football team — first and foremost. No one respects him more than [owner] Jerry [Jones] and myself,” Jones said at the Senior Bowl at the end of January. “Dak is going to be our guy for, hopefully, the next 10 years. You say, ‘that’s a long time’ because he’s already played 6 of 7. But I think Dak will play that long because he takes care of himself and he’s driven to be great and we fully expect him to be here for 10 years.”
Because the Cowboys expect Prescott to be here for 10 years and because he has a $49 million cap hit in 2023 — it rises to $52.13M in 2024— the Cowboys want to sign him to a contract extension to lower his cap number and clear room to add much-needed talent around him.
The Cowboys could simply restructure his contract and create $22 million in cap room in 2023. But that would only add more dead money on the back end of a deal that they plan re-do anyway.
And doing it now helps you get ahead of continual rising costs of quarterback contracts.
In 2021, Prescott was one of two quarterbacks to average $40M a season. Now, he is tied for 7th.
The market is only going to go up. And quickly with new deals expected for Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Los Angeles’ Justin Herbert.
“You’re going to have 12-13-14 quarterbacks making $40+ million bucks when you look up,” Jones said. “[Prescott] deserves to be in that category.”
So the best way way to go for the Cowboys is to sign Prescott to a contract extension by adding at least four years to his current deal, along with a huge signing bonus, while lowering his base salary and cap figure.
Debate all you want about whether Prescott is can ultimately lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl, what matters most is the key club decisions makers believe he can with the right players around him.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 12:01 PM.
