The Dallas Cowboys and Quarterback Dak Prescott were unable to agree on a long-term contract by today's 4:00 pm deadline. This mean Prescott will play the 2020 season under the franchise tag and the issue will remain open until the next offseason.
Dak was given the exclusive franchise tag back in March, which pays about $31 million in 2020 and blocked other teams from talking to him. If he's tagged again in 2021, that projects to be around a $37 million for the QB tender.
Prescott and the Cowboys appear to have been stuck on the number of years in the deal more than the money. Dallas was willing to make Dak the second-highest paid QB in the NFL in annual compensation, tied with Russell Wilson and beaten only by the new deal Pat Mahomes just got from Kansas City.
But Prescott has been determined to re-enter free agency while he's still just 30 years old and assumably in his prime, hoping for another payday. Dallas would like more commitment and stability from the contract with at least another year or two on the deal.
Now that the deadline has passed, a new contract cannot be signed until after the 2020 season. The two sides can still talk and perhaps even reach a private agreement, but they can't make anything official until the Cowboys play their last game.
At the end of the day, Dak Prescott is still the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and his long-term future is still up in the air. Not that much has really changed.
