4:46pm, July 12: The latest news coming out of the endless Prescott-Cowboys saga points to the quarterback playing 2020 on the tag as well. Prescott and the Cowboys are not close to reaching an extension agreement by the Wednesday deadline, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News tweets.

5:42pm, July 11: The Cowboys began extension talks with Dak Prescott in mid-April 2019. Fifteen months later, they have four days to finalize a deal to avoid their quarterback playing the 2020 season on the franchise tag.

While the Cowboys are not worried, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes several league sources do not expect a deal to be finalized (video link). Prescott has signed his $31.4MM franchise tender, and the Cowboys are prepared (if necessary) for their fifth-year quarterback to play the season on the tag.

Prescott has held firm on his goal of a four-year deal, as opposed to the Cowboys’ five-year preference, and nothing has transpired on this front in months. The process is expected to go to the deadline, per Fowler. This reminds of Dallas’ standoff with Dez Bryant, which ended minutes before the 2015 July deadline. Only Prescott’s position brings higher stakes for the Cowboys.

The 27-year-old passer has aimed for a deal that exceeds Russell Wilson‘s $35MM-per-year pact. While Patrick Mahomes is now attached to a $45MM-AAV deal, the Chiefs quarterback’s 10-year agreement may not have too much bearing on Prescott’s situation because of his preference for a short-term deal. That stance will limit the Cowboys’ desire to up his price, and John Clayton of the Washington Post notes Jerry Jones would still like Prescott’s price to come in below the $35MM-AAV mark.

The Cowboys have signed several members of their current core to extensions over the past two years. Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jaylon Smith and Zack Martin all signed for more than four years. Their last known offer to Prescott was worth just more than $33MM annually, putting Prescott in the neighborhood of fellow 2016 draftees Jared Goff and Carson Wentz. Prescott turned down a $33MM-per-year proposal last season.

Dallas managed to re-sign Cooper and add several defensive pieces this year, despite Prescott’s tag price going on its books in March. Prescott playing this season on the tag, however, would remind of Kirk Cousins‘ situation in Washington. The current Vikings quarterback played 2016 and ’17 on the tag before leaving Washington as a free agent in 2018. A second Prescott tag would cost the Cowboys $37.7MM next year, when the cap may either decline or remain at $198MM due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s imminent attendance impact. A third tag in 2022 would be at an untenable $54MM-plus.

Dak Prescott agreed to sign his franchise tender on Sunday, but there’s still a lot of work to be done between now and the July 15 deadline. The length of the contract still needs to be ironed out, and there’s still a slight disparity in what each side wants. The Cowboys want to sign Prescott to a five-year add-on, but the quarterback continues to push for a four-year deal, a source tells Mike Florio of PFT. 

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Prescott’s camp is concerned that a five-year deal could turn into something longer via the franchise tag. Ideally, Prescott wants the flexibility to test the open market while he’s still in his prime years, giving him an opportunity to cash in as the salary cap increases. Prescott is pretty set on the four-year mark, so the Cowboys may ultimately have to bend in order to get a deal done before the upcoming deadline. If they can’t hash out an extension in the next few weeks, they’ll have to wait until after the 2020 season to revisit talks.

Meanwhile, Florio hears that the Cowboys have been surprised by Prescott’s resolve. The former fourth-round quarterback has spent his whole career playing on his rookie deal – other players in his position would have jumped at earlier offers. Instead, Prescott has been unwilling to settle. He understands his value as a young, quality quarterback in today’s NFL and the leverage he has. Ultimately, if the Cowboys opt to tag him again in 2021, he can make nearly $70MM over the next two years.

The Cowboys and Dak Prescott might not be as far apart as previously believed. For months, we’ve been hearing that Prescott is aiming for a two or three-year deal while the Cowboys wanted something more traditional – likely five or six years. Instead, the quarterback is seeking a four-year deal while the Cowboys are pitching five years, according to one source who spoke with Calvin Watkins of The Dallas Morning News (on Twitter).

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That doesn’t necessarily mean that the previous talk of Prescott wanting a two or three year deal was inaccurate. It’s possible that the current climate has changed Prescott’s views on potential open market upside versus long-term security. With a longer contract, Prescott can secure more in effective guarantees as well as guaranteed dollars at signing. Either way, it now seems like the Cowboys and their franchise QB are inching closer to a deal as the July 15th deadline approaches. They might not be on the same page, but they’re at least on the same chapter.

Prescott reportedly (and, naturally) wants to top Russell Wilson‘s league-leading $35MM average annual value. The Cowboys are hoping to hold the line and retain him at a lower rate, but any multi-year deal will have to wind up in that ballpark. If they can’t come to terms before the mid-June deadline, Prescott will earn $31.4MM in 2020 while remaining on course for free agency in ’21.

The Cowboys could franchise tag Prescott all over again next year, but that would leave them perilously thin everywhere else. Next year’s tag would call for a 20% raise over this year’s tag, which comes out to about $37.7MM. A third tag? That’d be a 44% jump – more than $54MM.

If the Cowboys want to stay in business with Prescott for the long haul, they’ll have to get something done sooner rather than later. And, if they can’t come to terms in the next few weeks, they’ll risk Prescott’s price jumping astronomically.

The latest news indicates that the Cowboys will hash things out by 6/15. History also suggests that a deal will get done. As Ed Werder of ESPN.com notes (on Twitter), seven of the league’s last ten franchise-tagged quarterbacks have agreed to multi-year deals before the deadline.

The Cowboys have until July 15th to hammer out a new deal with Dak Prescott. Apparently, they’re not all that close to an agreement. So far, the talks have consisted of the Cowboys pushing for a longer deal and the quarterback gunning for a shorter contract, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

There’s little doubt that Prescott’s next deal will make him a very, very rich man. However, Schefter’s report indicates that there’s no truth to a recent rumor that made the rounds on Wednesday. The internet was buzzing with talk of a five-year, $175MM offer for the quarterback, but there was apparently no truth to those rumors. According to Todd Archer of ESPN.com, the Cowboys have an offer on the table that would make Prescott the league’s second-highest player in terms of average annual value (behind Seahawks star Russell Wilson and his $35MM AAV). That jibes with what we heard several months ago, when it was reported that Dallas had offered a contract with an AAV of about $33.5MM during the scouting combine (though that proposal didn’t gain much traction).

Currently, Prescott is slated to earn ~$31.4MM in 2020, per the terms of the franchise tag. If they can’t come to terms on an extension by July 15th, they’ll have to wait until after the season to restart talks. There’s clear mutual interest in a multi-year arrangement, but Prescott wants a shorter deal so that he can cash in all over again with youth on his side. The Cowboys, meanwhile, want a longer deal that won’t completely break the bank.

“There’s all sorts of analytics out there that show if your quarterback takes up too big a percentage of your salary cap, it decreases your chances to win,” COO Stephen Jones said recently. “We’re just trying to figure out the right fit. No one wants to sign Dak to a longer term deal more than Jerry and myself. We’re on the record time and time again on what we think of him as a leader. He has the ‘it’ factor. He’s a fierce competitor. He wants to win as well, and it’s just gotta be right for him and right for us.”

Prescott, a two-time Pro Bowler, threw for 4,902 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2019. He’s seeking a deal that would make him the league’s highest-paid quarterback, vaulting him ahead of Wilson. But as a source tells ESPN’s Ed Werder, the two sides are close enough on dollars that a long-term deal by July 15 is in reach (Twitter link). If they can agree on the length of the contract, this matter could come together quickly.

Rory Parks contributed to this post.