The Cowboys completed a rare instance of an extension being finalized the morning of Week 1 Sunday. While the other teams who completed pre-Week 1 extensions hammered them out in the days leading up to their respective openers, the Cowboys were still negotiating the morning of their Browns matchup.
A Saturday report suggested a small chance existed the Cowboys could come to terms with their ninth-year quarterback, but they ended up doing so just before noon CT — around four hours before their Browns tilt. As the Cowboys and Dak’s agent negotiated before COO Stephen Jones left for Cleveland, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano indicates the team was motivated by the soft deadline Week 1 brought.
Prescott, 30, had said he was OK continuing talks into the season; though, he seemed less thrilled about the prospect when he broached it again late last month. Had Prescott begun a contract year, he was likely to keep upping his price as free agency would have loomed closer and closer as the season progressed, per Graziano. Considering where the Cowboys ended up, it is understandable they were leery of where the numbers could go if their staredown with the QB dragged into the fall.
These negotiations ended with Prescott becoming the NFL’s first $60MM-per-year player, representing remarkable growth on a market that stood at $30MM (Matt Ryan‘s second Falcons extension) barely six years ago. Dak’s $60MM AAV checks in $5MM north of where the market’s ceiling previously resided, but the likes of Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love did not possess the leverage Prescott did.
The Cowboys again bent on term length (four years), as they did for Prescott in 2021 and CeeDee Lamb this year, and again gave their quarterback no-trade and no-tag clauses. Not that a no-tag clause would have mattered much, as no player has received a third tag in nearly 20 years — since the 2006 CBA made doing so punitive — but the Cowboys showed the results of negotiating without leverage.
Still, they were able to keep Prescott away from free agency. Guaranteed money brought the final stage of these talks, Graziano adds, and Dak indeed secured more in guarantees than Deshaun Watson did on a five-year deal. That said, Watson — for now, at least — is tied to $230MM fully guaranteed; Prescott’s $231MM number represents the total guarantee. Though, the Cowboys will have a difficult time escaping this contract due to the above-referenced clauses and the financial penalties that come via the guarantee structure.
Dallas gave Prescott $129MM guaranteed at signing. That is not a top-market number, as it checks in seventh among QBs. But Prescott, as should be expected, secured a player-friendly cash flow. His 2024 and 2025 base salaries are guaranteed at signing, and Graziano adds the $40MM 2026 base salary shifts from guaranteed for injury to a full guarantee in March 2025. That same structure applies for Prescott’s $45MM 2027 base, which locks in as of March 2026. Prescott is due $55MM in 2028 base salary; $17MM of that amount will become fully guaranteed in March 2027. Dak’s one-, two-, three- and four-year cash flows lead the NFL, SI.com’s Andrew Brandt tweets.
No-tag and no-trade clauses being present in Prescott’s 2021 extension (4/160), coupled with his previous 2024 cap number ($55.13MM) and potential 2025 dead money penalty if not extended by March ($40.13MM), made it a lock he would secure whopping terms from the Cowboys if he agreed to avoid testing free agency.
This extension includes four void years, with the Cowboys having the option of restructuring the deal down the road as well, but still includes a high 2024 cap number. Dak’s extension dropped his cap hit by less than $11MM, with the new ’24 number settling at $44.61MM. With the Browns restructuring Watson’s deal a second time, the Rams reworking Matthew Stafford‘s contract and the Cowboys paying Prescott, Kyler Murray‘s $49.12MM leads all players and represents the highest single-player cap hit in NFL history.
This nixes what would have been a historic free agency sweepstakes and ties Prescott to the Cowboys through 2028. This will put Dak in line to become the longest-tenured QB1 in team history, surpassing Troy Aikman‘s 12-season run.
Jerry gonna Jerry
Well Jerry Jones was ready to cut the price in half in season
Fight fire with fire
I doubt it. Jerry talks tough but history has shown that Jerry always pays.
Well at least they played well Sunday
He got his money. Now he has no excuses to not perform. At his contract it should be expected they are title contenders and he can’t complain if the roster around him suffers when they have to cut costs. Mahomes, Kelce, and Jones took up a significant chunk of the cap and they still won. It must be the same with Dak, Lamb, and Parsons.
Just look at Cleveland. No depth to protect the overpaid, overhyped QB. That’ll be Dak in 2025.
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison as he puts up numbers, plays almost every game, and has 0 SA lawsuits on record
And ZERO Super Bowl rings!
The Dak contract is going to be problematic. While almost fully guaranteed with the guarantee triggers being to guarantee the following year’s salary at the start of the current league year, It will be difficult to get out from under this deal any time soon. I don’t know how an $89M cap hit in 2025 is going to help the team put any other quality players around him.
link to overthecap.com
They’re just going to be a draft only team. Luckily for Dallas, they’ve been very good at that, but there’s no way that this helps the team add established pieces. They’re going to have to rely heavily on Dak and Lamb, and hope that Parsons works with them on getting a contract done. Parsons seemed like the most likely one to give any sort of hometown discount to begin with, despite the fact that he’s the best of the three relative to his position. We’ll see if he will do so when they start trying to get his deal done, or if they’ll be forced to send him out for picks.
But just remember- Dak told us “it’s not about the money”. So, there’s that.
Numbskulls are now stuck with him another 4 years.
Jerry got owned…so much for a long-term Cowboys run.
Up the price??? Dude you’re not even good enough to be a top 5 qb!! How Jerry was dumb enough to give you $60 mil a year boggles the mind. Let the fool walk like Minnesota did with Cousins. Neither qb is worth the money they’re getting.
Jags paid $55m to Trevor, who is an average QB.
For what? Dak is clinging onto the tier one QB’s by his fingernails. He hasn’t accomplished anything except being mediocre and not winning the big games. This is getting ridiculous.
Does it matter at this point? The mistake is now legally binding and will hamstring the Cowboys for the next 5 years. They better win a playoff game this year as it will likely be their last chance in Jerry’s lifetime.
Given the Cap impact, the guaranteed money and the inability to get out from under this contract, Yes Jerry virtually every GM (except maybe Cleveland) is better at “this” than you.