The Cowboys have re-entered negotiations with their franchise quarterback, and Dak Prescott‘s patient strategy may be about to pay off.
A Prescott extension is not yet imminent, but a source informed ESPN.com’s Ed Werder the Cowboys quarterback will exit these talks as the NFL’s highest-paid player (Twitter link). These talks are not contentious, per Werder, who adds that since the NFL has postponed teams’ offseason programs, no team deadline exists to conclude these discussions.
Prescott turned down the Cowboys’ $33MM-per-year offer — one that came with $105MM guaranteed — and is now franchise-tagged for around $33MM. Russell Wilson‘s $35MM-AAV deal remains the NFL’s high-water mark. Wilson signed that deal last April. A Prescott price in the $35MM-AAV range surfaced Wednesday night.
The Cowboys have until July 15 to reach a long-term agreement with Prescott. If the sides cannot finalize a deal by then, he will play under the exclusive tag. This process has gone on for over a year now. The Cowboys have extended both Ezekiel Elliott and Amari Cooper, clearing the way for a Prescott tag.
While no one would logically argue Prescott is the NFL’s best quarterback, he has exerted leverage well over the past several months. Prescott bet on himself in a contract year, and he’s now negotiating under a new CBA. This and the NFL’s next round of TV deals are likely to produce bigger salary cap spikes in the coming years. The Cowboys’ price for Prescott would then set the market for Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, with the latter possessing the ability to reshape the quarterback salary spectrum when that time comes.
Won’t matter how much Jerry throws at him. It will be way too much.
Prescott? Dak Prescott? hahahaha
He might be able to afford to buy one of Tom Brady’s super bowl rings now. He’s got 10 fingers to wear it on. 🙂
How does anyone with any football IQ think this guy is worth $35M per? It just makes no sense to me. What a colossal waste of money! Doesn’t hurt my feelings that it’s Dallas paying it though. Thata you Jerry!
Sadly, that is how the QB market works. Mediocre stats and no real accomplishment get you an absurd amount of money.
Just think what QBs like Mahomes will command when it’s their turn…
How is it sad that the driving force being the entire team gets a slice of the zillionaire pie?
It would be okay if it were someone like Mahomes or Brady, but Dak? He’s a solid game manager at best who’s never had any playoff success.
I have no problem at all with these guys getting paid, not at all. As a matter of fact they should get a bigger slice. But that much for Dak? He is not worth nearly that much. Now Mahomes, hell yes. But Dak will never be more than a game manager. He’s NOT a difference maker.
Only problem with the players pushing salaries up,is it will trickle down to the fans.You might see it as their dipping into the owners pockets,but the extra money is actually gonna come from higher costs for cable,tickets,concessions,parking,and everywhere else they can make their money.We’re the ones that will pay for it.
Rad Tad
Nd Jackson wow. Sad
Yes Dad….keep draining those Cowboy dollars that will affect new player signings and negotiations this year and for years to come…..regardless of what the cap is next year!
Dak the highest paid player in the NFL
Lol
What do they see in him? An above avg qb getting the most money in the league will screw every other team in the league. Whatever dak gets Watson should get 5 more and mahomes should get 10 more a year
Truth
What a joke, he’s not even a top 15 QB, falls into the mediocre group with Cousins
Just curious, what 14 QBs are better than him, I’m not saying Dak is the best I’m just curious to pick your brain.
I understand the dak hate since he’s not elite but he’s very much not a bottom half qb
Here’s 16 —
Mahomes
Jackson
Watson
Wilson
Brees
Rodgers
Brady
Goff
Cousins
Tannehill
Ryan
Stafford
Garropolo
Carr
Rivers
Roethlisberger
Jeez…Maybe Mitchell Trubisky will top that next off-season.
as a avid cowboys fan, this kind of money just makes no sense for a player like dak…I would tend to agree that wilson deserves every dollar he earns because without him Seattle is average st best and with no big name weapons. with him they are a distinguished playoff team with a SB appearances… without dak and a veteran qb we would win the same
Hahahaha
Seattle won a SB and because of a bad pass not a bad call lost the one the next year. Not an appearance but two in a row with a win.
Yea i know that. Im laughing at the fact that someone like Prescott is going to be highest paid when he doesn’t deserve it. Highest paid should be someone who oh idk wins playoffs games, a SB, hell even an MVP. Paying him that money will set the team back and definitely not make them any closer to winning a SB. That’s why the Cowgirls are a joke. They think throwing money at players is how you win.
What is the alternative for Dallas? Seriously!
They got lucky in the draft to find him after they struck out on Lynch, Cook and others in the early rounds. Should they sign Daulton to lead them to the SB? Someone propose a better path that is based in reality.
Any plan is better than giving Dak 35+ a year, as neither he, Dalton, or anyone else is leading them to the super bowl. Most of their wins last year came against sub .500 teams and a few against barely over .500 teams. They just aren’t that good, and paying a mediocre QB superstar money isn’t going to help the situation.
Agreed. The way the team is currently constructed, they won’t be going to the SB with Dak anyways. Might as well sign Winston for about $15 million a year cheaper and see if that extra money & whatever draft capital you get from trading Dak can help in other areas. Somehow they haven’t cut Crawford, an average DT/DE at best, making $9 million a year. They just gave a similar contract (per position value) to a similar player in Lawrence, who is not elite. Then gave a ton of money to Zeke which was unnecessary as well, since most pro RBs would be productive behind that line. JJ does a good job of negotiating contracts for the oline, but needs to come up with a better philosophy for negotiating for every other positional player.
This is not a good idea. Dak isn’t worth $30+ a year. 8-8 here we come!!!
Paying dak that much is asinine, mediocre qb with zero playoff success. Most of his stats come when his team is getting owned he is not clutch.
Just feels a lot like the Mike Conley contract in the NBA. Decent above average player, important to his team no doubt, but more importantly no viable alternatives or options. Good timing for Mike Conley, good timing for Dak.
Its truly not about him being worth it or not, that’s how the QB market is. Each yr a starting qb gets a new contract it resets the market. I’m a cowboy fan and a fan of Dak, the cowboys messed up by not getting this done earlier it would of saved them a few million. bottom line a deal has to get done so get it done!!!
Highest paid over-rated quarterback … dual threat quarterbacks are nothing new to the NFL (Fran Tarkenton, Randall Cunningham, Michael Vick, Jim Zorn, Steve Young) and Dak is another. He will probably reap from the current inflated market value and his owner’s ego, but nothing separates him from Lamar Jackson, Russel Wilson or others.
Jerry acting out of desperation. He’s willing to overpay on offense and forgot Defense wins Super Bowls. Trade Dak and sign Cam or Jamis
How the 49ers do with the defense win SB? They had best defense for the whole year to choke it away at the end. So no defense doesn’t always win champions
And the Chiefs defense started playing better. Your point is kind of lost when your argument is they lost in the Super Bowl. It wasn’t like they had the number one defense and lost in round one.
Best defense lost to best offense. One team had to lose, and SF defense played well until the last half of the 4th quarter. They got to the SB. Seems to have worked out better than Dallas’ 8-8 year.
Let’s all remember that at one point Joe Flacco was given the largest contract in NFL history LOL
He also won a Superbowl, so not sure of your point?
this is what happens when you become bound to holding onto your QB.
Good old Jerry… Makin’ another splash…
Dak is a good qb
I’m not saying highest paid ever by any means but are there 10 qbs better than him?
Not sold on 10 being for sure better than him, however, there are 13 that would be either better than or similar to him (mahomes, brady, rodgers, brees, watson, lamar, wilson, ben, stafford, cousins, ryan, goff, wentz).
Damn you smoking that crack after Wilson the rest ain’t better than dak.
Do you not know what the word “similar” means Miklo?
Add Garropolo, Tannehill, Carr and Rivers. Numbers over last 3 years show Dak to be average. Just not worth eating that much of the cap.
Dak is not the type of QB who deserves that much money. He’s not worth a penny more than $20 million and even that is probably too much. Teams need to come to their senses and stop giving every mediocre QB who comes along a huge contract
What a joke. Prescott isn’t worth $5,000,000 on his best day. Over rated
Check his win% and QB rating since entering the league. It ranks at the top. Is Byron Jones the best CB in the league, no. The market dictates value
Check his winning percentage against quality competition
Rating the last 3 years has been 18th, 14th, and 10th. The fat part of the bell curve. Middle of the pack.
And the last 3 years he is 27-21 as a starter, but in a division that has never been above .500 as a group. Again, middle of the pack.
Why can’t the Cowboys wait until at least Dak shows he’s worth the money. Win a few playoff games. I feel like they did the same with Zeke overpay him before he deserved it
Agreed they were early on Zeke but they already committed that high pick and he produced. 48 TDs in four years along with over 7000 AP yards. You can justify paying Zeke at least. Prescott has the best season of his career last season and while you could say that’s his potential, I’d say he’s more likely to drop in yardage. 30M a year sounds like the high mark they should accept when it comes to a former fourth rounder. I know guys beat their draft stock a lot of times but usually at this position, you’re closer to your stock and Prescott isn’t the guy who you should commit 20% of your cap to.
No one probably more overrated then Eli but at least he got his money after his second Super Bowl. Flacco got his money after winning. Go win and you will be paid. Plain and simple concept.
I wouldn’t pay the man. Let him holdout. Go ahead. He made $700k last season, and he will be forfeiting that each week, and some, if he decides to hold out.
I’d let him leave after this year. Draft a guy knowing that you have an offense built already. I’m sorry but having Prescott, Cooper and Zeke locked up long term doesn’t matter when the on the field success hasn’t been there. He wants more than a guy who won a Super Bowl and got there a second time. He’s literally won a single playoff game and that’s it. You cannot realistically justify paying him that money and not getting clowned for it.
35 million is nothing compared to what Mahomes or Jackson are about to be making.
What a joke! He’s not even a top five QB right now
This must mean Jacoby Brissett is worth at least $25M.
Jerry Jones is a clown. His best move is to call up the one or two truly QB-needy teams and do a tag-and-trade.
Dak to the Chargers for 2 1st rounders, or Dak to the Bears for 2 1st rounders and Trubisky. Maybe even Dak to NE for a couple of 1st rounders.
Sign the corpse of Joe Flacco or Andy Dalton to lead you through one season and then go find your franchise QB in the draft.
Jerry is just bidding against himself and it’s hilarious.
Lol 2 first. Lucky to get a day 2 pick. The whole reason the cowboys should trade him is because he isn’t that good, why would another team give up multiple firsts and pay him? Makes no sense.
Cowboys about to flush any chances of winning a SB down the drain for the life of that contract.
Dak will be the highest paid for less than a year then someone will blow it out of the water…all the hate people show to Dak, have we forgot that Ryan Tannehill just signed for 4yrs 118m with 91 guaranteed???
Tannehill has more playoff wins so….
And in 3 years the market will be re-set and Dak will be underpaid.
Maybe Jerry is stringing him along until the draft then males his “JJ Splash” by using #17 on a QB.
Not my definition of a good idea but Jerry is as Jerry does
This will break my heart if they do this. This team has shown that they have no intelligence whatsoever when it comes to the salary cap management. I guess we just got a wait for Jerry to die for things to change. Maybe they’ll win another Super Bowl before I die.
Cowboys couldn’t win the last 4 years paying Prescott 750k and Elliot next to nothing, now those guys will make a combined 50 million. What idiot thinks they can win doing that. Jerry and his sons need to sell the team or let someone who understands football and the cap to run the show. Until then I won’t see them win ever again. Disgusted!
Chiefs fan here. That headline is a travesty of a mockery of a sham.
“While no one would logically argue Prescott is the NFL’s best quarterback…”
Yet, always wrong paid analysts on TV still keep trying to make a case the Prescott is a top 5 QB. Like someone else said, he is borderline middle of the pack and on the lower end of the middle. If he didn’t play in Dallas, he would be a backup and be paid less than $10 million a year, i.e. what he actually is worth.
Cowboys are gonna be in cap hell for a long time. He’s a good QB in the mixed bag of guys between 10-15. But the money will crush them between him an Amari’s paper hamstrings.
Having the highest paid QB means you’ll win a SB right? Would I sign Jameis Winston to a 5 year deal at 20M per? Yes. Why? Because it’s 20M not what 35.5+ and Winston has no other suitor. Would I sign Cam Newton – ehhh – maybe if I wanted my back-up QB to play a lot.
Since they’re about to have $0 left. Cowboys are going to have to hit on a lot of their draft picks, particularly in the secondary. All but Anthony Brown are set to be FAs next year.
I think the forego drafting a center this year and see what Looney/McGovern can do. Neither is close to the player that Frederick is, but it’s what they have. That’s going to prove to be a bigger loss than anything. There isn’t a clear-cut 1st round center prospect in this draft. If anything these guys are 3rd rounders (McGovern was). No one else in FA is worth looking at.
They need a Slot WR. Probably will go there in round 1 if Jeudy is available, 2nd round at worst. No one else in FA is worth looking at here either.
They also need a DE in the 1st 3 rounds. And another DT before the draft is done.
no having Nick foles as a backup does evidently. i agree that dak ain’t that good for us but at least he is better than wentz who hasn’t won a playoff game or played in a full one. talk about over paying a qb.
Only because the Cowboys are a franchise that tops the top 5 teams in all of sports worldwide net worth.. $$$$
Spend Dallas, spend! You won’t need any cap space after you give Dak that huge contract that he so richly deserves. LOL you will become Super Bowl champions for years to come, a real Dynasty! Bahahahaha…!
The Cowboys can win with UDFA and low-priced journeymen at every other position than RB, QB and WR1!
You only need stars, really big stars to win football games in the NFL. Ask Bill Belichick.