Although the Cowboys and Dak Prescott had not discussed a deal in weeks going into Wednesday, the parties did some 11th-hour communicating.
The Cowboys sent “repeated texts” to Prescott on Wednesday, urging the franchise-tagged passer to call executive VP Stephen Jones, Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets. Prescott did so after discussing the matter with agent Todd France, whom Werder indicates had a separate discussion with Jones.
These talks are not believed to have gone too far, however, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Prescott will be just the third quarterback to play a season on a franchise tag. He will follow Drew Brees (2005) and Kirk Cousins (2016 and ’17) in that regard.
Prescott’s camp has eyed a four-year deal worth more than $35MM annually. Jerry Jones wanted at least a five-year commitment, per usual for Cowboys cornerstone players, and a salary south of $35MM. The best known offer the Cowboys made was one that came in just north of $33MM per year.
Dallas failing to finalize an extension is in step with most of the teams that used their franchise tags this year. Only the Chiefs and Titans came to terms with franchise-tagged players before the deadline. But the Cowboys have succeeded in extending their top talent for years. Just over the past year and change, Dallas signed 2019 franchise player DeMarcus Lawrence months before the tag deadline and extended Ezekiel Elliott to end the running back’s lengthy holdout. Amari Cooper reached free agency, but the Cowboys brought him back soon after.
Prescott being the exception could have significant consequences. Should the Cowboys fail to reach an extension agreement with their quarterback next year, a tag would cost $37.7MM. That coming in a year in which the cap may decline or stay at $198MM will make matters tougher on Dallas than they were for Washington in 2017, when the cap made its usual climb. If this process follows the Cousins-Washington path, Prescott’s tag price would balloon to $54MM in 2022.
texts, I guess, better than when the Broncos faxed a contract to a player a few years back. Ever think about….calling?
Alexander Graham Bell is furious right about now
Underrated comment
It was actually Elvis Dumervil’s agent who faxed the contract, but too late to qualify it. Dumervil fired the agent soon after.
Thanks for clarifying. Still a funny story!
Agreed, and also a pretty pathetic for that agent.
It’s all very simple. The cowboys want a reasonable AAV at 5 years. Dak thinks he’s worth a lot more than he is and thinks he is going to cash in in 4 more years.
Trouble is it’s gonna end bad for both the cowboys and Dak.
Not sure how, at this point in time, you can say this ends poorly for Dak. QBs on the franchise tag generally win out, even average ones like Cousins.
Right now, Dak will play this year at $31.5MM. The Cowboys have three options next year, long term deal, franchise tag, or let him walk. They won’t let him walk, so if they can’t agree then, he gets another tag, this time playing at $37.7MM. That’s basically a two year, $69MM guaranteed contract right now. Good for Dak.
Now, if they still can’t figure it out, they have the same three options in two years, only this time, they probably won’t tag him, because it would cost a ridiculous $54MM guaranteed. That’s a 3 year deal for roughly $123MM, all guaranteed. So at that point, they’ve already have paid him almost $70MM for the last two seasons, and still have to give him a long term deal. All good for Dak as long as he stays healthy of course.
Instead of all of this, they could’ve just given him the four year deal he wanted and ended up paying LESS money. The Cowboys being stubborn are the ones who lost on this.
Dak will be the raiders qb in 2021
I can see that happening.
Via trade or Free Agency?
to suggest he’s any better than Carr?
Raider fan here, and really hoping you’re wrong.
4 years at 140 with 110 guaranteed woyld ve in line with Wentz and Goff. I take Dak over either of those guys.
He’s worth nowhere close to them. He is a average QB. Any team giving him over 30 million a year is blowing money
I’m not really a Dak fan, but what makes Goff and Wentz any better? Each player has been surrounded by similar talent to Dak without much more success. Wentz has always had an elite offensive line with players like Peters, Johnson, Brooks, and Kelce. In 2018, when Goff was at his best, he had an elite Todd Gurley and a receiving corps boasting Cooks, Woods, and Kupp. Not to mention, he’s coached by one of the game’s brilliant offensive minds in Sean McVay. Prescott had Elliott and some solid offensive lineman to his benefit.
I believe each quarterback is above average, but not among the top tier of signal callers. They’ve all led their respective teams to the postseason before, but have also suffered various disappointments and injuries. Thus, they should each earn comparable contracts
You’re right, I think, in your assessment. I’ve never been a huge believer in McVay, but he (kind of like Kyle Shanahan) has enough scheme creativity to allow his team to put up numbers on lesser opponents. That benefits a quarterback, especially because both McVay and Shanahan offer their QB good run offense to take the pressure off. This relates similarly to Prescott in that he too benefits from a run based offense-unlike Goff or Wentz, though, his coaching is not something that we can for sure say benefitted him. You just don’t get the feeling, in watching the Cowboys, that Prescott was merely executing a game plan like Goff or Wentz did. Just a hunch, but Prescott seemed to evolve last year into being more responsible for his role in the offense, especially working with a young O.C. In Kellen Moore. Mike McCarthy coming in creates a big question of what type of role Dak will take-will he be the leader, the guy worth $35 million, or will he execute McCarthy’s gameplan, like Goff with McVay?
That’s all speculative, but I think right now, those guys are about equally valuable overall. Everyone pretending that any second tier sort of quarterback is terrible, but they don’t realize the difficulty in even finding that. At the end of the day, I’m not sure who gives you the best chance to win between Wentz, Goff, or Prescott, as I think that sort of depends on your team, but I think the chances (and value) overall is fairly similar. They all fall into that top ten to top fifteen range, and the way contracts are going, it’s not surprising to see Dak ask for $35 million. Does he deserve it? Maybe, but if he didn’t ask for it, it’d be an admission that he didn’t consider himself a high level player. Five years at $33 million sounded good to me, but hey, I’m not Dak.
From what I’ve heard via sport talk radio one knock on Dak is that he’s done less with more that is his teams should have done better given the talent around him. Counter argument could be that was due to mediocre coaching.
I feel like I’ve read 900 Dak stories this offseason. The Cowboys are ridiculous.
It took a Texas drama this long and boring for me to gain an understanding of why the Brits love “Coronation Street”.
Say what you will, but teams that sink too much money in anyone player don’t have the capital to pay other important contributors, which often lead to lack of quality depth. Yes QB is important, but they could get a reasonable free agent replacement or get someone in the draft and put the money into defense.
Agreed. Nothing against Prescott, he would ideally be their guy, but the Cowboys do have a certain quality backup on a very team friendly deal at the moment…
Obligatory phone call just to articles like these can be written.