Dak Prescott continues to make Cowboys look silly in negotiations
Dak Prescott has all the leverage in contract negotiations with the Cowboys.
There’s no drama in that quarterback Dak Prescott is slated to play for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2020 NFL season. He has signed his franchise tender, which will lock him in to make $31.4 million this year no matter what. Of course, the organization — and the quarterback, it seems — are steadfast about getting a long-term deal done before the July 15 deadline.
It’s a situation that continues to be fascinating. Despite the Cowboys’ desire to keep Prescott, they didn’t seemingly seriously pony up last offseason, which led to the quarterback further increasing his price as he played quite well in the 2019 season. But now they continue to split hairs and it doesn’t make much sense.
As reported by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the major holdup in the talks between Dak and Dallas is the length of the contract. The Cowboys want to lock up the quarterback on a five-year deal while Prescott is adamant that he wants a four-year deal. And for whatever reason, the organization is baffled by how strongly the player feels about this.
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But they shouldn’t be. This feels more like a pride thing on the part of Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones in that they don’t want to admit they misplayed the situation and now have to give in. Because Prescott is completely right in his desires. A four-year deal gives him more flexibility if, at the end of that deal, Dallas wants to hit him with the franchise tag again before signing a long-term contract.
Moreover, Prescott has all the leverage because of what the Cowboys have done. By not prioritizing this deal and signing other players on the roster to extensions, they are now faced with the possibility of either succumb to Dak’s requests or potentially let him walk next offseason. Frankly, they need to succumb sooner rather than later.
The Cowboys need to stop stubbornness, give in with Dak Prescott deal.
Again, the team’s insistence on a five-year deal is just stubbornness. Of course the team wants him under contract for as long as possible to then be able to work with tags and so on at the end of the next deal. But if that’s what they wanted, the deal should’ve been agreed upon over a year ago. Instead, the Cowboys low-balled Dak Prescott.
What makes Dallas look exceptionally silly in all of this is that they clearly don’t want any other option than keeping Prescott. They believe he’s the quarterback they can win with and, now that they have more infrastructure — particularly at head coach — around him, he should start to truly show that. So their resistance to the quarterback’s demands comes off as futility.
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All told, it would be a shock if Dak Prescott and the Cowboys didn’t reach a long-term contract before the July 15 deadline. There are already rumblings that it will happen and common sense would dictate that it should. But until that pen meets the dotted line, Dallas is going to continue looking like the dunce in this situation.