The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable sports franchise in the entire world, last valued at an insane $9.0 billion by Forbes Magazine.
Nearly $2 million later on the chart comes the second-place team. You might have heard of them: the New York Yankees.
Being the most valuable sports franchise in the world, the Cowboys are always in the spotlight and the smallest nugget of information is magnified nine billion times.
The lights are always on at The Star and one light has been burning in the window for months now.
That light is a prayer candle for star QB Dak Prescott and his contract situation.
For my Hispanic demographic out there, we all know prayer candles are a staple of our culture.
Don’t believe me?
Take a gander at this masterpiece created by a Cowboys fan out there praying for a Super Bowl appearance.
Saint Dak Prescott is a real thing.
A savior sent to us from the 4th round of the 2016 NFL Draft to scoop Cowboys fans into his embrace at the loss of fan-favorite Tony Romo.
So why are Jerry & Stephen Jones and the Cowboys taking so long to extend his contract?
I know there are two sides to every negotiation and none of us are in the room to know what part of the talks have led to a standstill.
To my untrained eye, there are no good reasons to let the contract negotiations simmer on the back burner while time passes and the contract gets increasingly expensive.
It Will Only Get More Expensive
As it stands right now, Dak Prescott is tied for 10th in average annual salary, behind lesser (my opinion) quarterbacks like Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, and even division rival Jalen Hurts.
Prescott was robbed of the NFL MVP award last season by Jackson, whose passing numbers did not compare in the slightest.
Reports on Twitter say that Prescott and his agent Todd France are requesting a $60 million per year salary along with the most guaranteed money in NFL history.
But how true is that report?
I’m glad Dak is the quarterback of my team, but let’s be realistic here. He’s not better than Patrick Mahomes.
Nobody is better than Patrick Mahomes at playing quarterback on this entire planet, much less a quarterback a few hundred miles south.
The speculation on the amount Dak wants may not be accurate, and if it isn’t, even more shame on the Jones for not getting a deal done already.
Kirk Cousins struck a deal with the Atlanta Falcons for $45 million per season, but most of his money was guaranteed. Where would that leave Dak?
That question has yet to be answered, but hopefully, it will be answered soon.
Time Passes
While the two sides sit in an apparent stalemate, not only is money being lost (on the team’s side) but time as well.
The worst thing the Cowboys could do is let negotiations bleed into training camp, and even worse, into the regular season.
If Prescott is forced to play a contract year, I believe the door will be shut forever and he will never play in a Cowboys uniform again.
The Cowboys have been held hostage by Prescott’s contract extension uncertainty, whether it comes from their side or not.
Time is passing, and the reason Dak seems in no hurry is because he has more time than the Cowboys have.
Next season will be Prescott’s ninth season and as far as quarterbacks go, he is still in his prime.
He can play out his last season in Dallas, collect $59 million, and bolt for greener pastures with the contract the Cowboys wouldn’t agree to.
Dallas doesn’t have this time.
While they are being held hostage by Todd France, it has created a chain reaction to halt talks on extension for any other players, namely star WR CeeDee Lamb.
Until the Cowboys can come to an agreement with Prescott or at least decide right now that this will be his last season, they cannot move forward with a concrete plan.
On the other side of the coin, why is Dak Prescott, a man who has already been paid $162,317,825 just in salary according to Spotrac, holding up negotiations with the team that paid him that money? Add in the endorsement deals that he got primarily because he is the QB for the Cowboys, and the man and his entire family are wealthier than they ever dreamed 10 years ago. And, with proper investment, will be the rest of their and their children’s lives.
So, why is such a “team player” insisting on yet another outrageously expensive contract, which will siphon more money not so much from the Joneses (they’d be paying it out to someone regardless) but from his supporting cast? What kind of “team player” does that to the people that made him unbelievably rich and the teammates that he will need to rely on for support? If Dak was half the “team player” he, the team, and his agent claim he is, he’d have already signed for a reasonable, but still respectable, amount. If his agent is the hold up, he should fire the agent.
In the end, Dak Prescott has not been signed to an extension because he thinks he’s worth more than twice what most of his teammates earn, despite them taking more of a beating than he does in today’s NFL.
Sounds to me like he is a self centered, narcissistic person. Knew it years ago. If they plunge again, get ready for more of the same.
The NFL is PROFESSIONAL football. They don’t play for free. You seem to forget Dak played his first 4 years for 4th round pick money, never held out as Elliott did even though Elliott was making about 10 times Dak and Ellioot got himself suspended his second year.
Top 10 QB make about 55 to 60 now. That is the set as top receiver like Ceedee will ask for 30 . Parsons is going to want 30 or more.
No, Jerry Jones’s preferences are not “holding the Cowboys hostage”. We all knew back in January that Dak’s salary negotiations were going to occur in the summer.
And yes, Dak will get at least $60 million per year. My guess is $62-63 million if it’s a five-year contract. [Slightly less for four years, slightly more for 6 years. That’s just the nature of an expanding salary cap.]
And that number isn’t going up right now. At least, the Cowboys’ owner doesn’t think it is, and he’s probably right.
The rate gets reset when the salary cap comes out, and at no other time. Dak’s people already know how much the cap went up; they don’t need some other quarterback’s contract to tell them about it.
As we all know, but most writers don’t consider, the salary cap keeps going up. The salary cap is how much the players get paid. When it goes up, that “resets” the going rate.
Last year, the going rate for a top-10 but not top-4 quarterback was $55 million for a 5-year contract. This year, we expected the cap would go up by 8-10%. That’s where the pre-cap-announcement expectation of around $60 million came from.
But the cap actually went up by 13.6%. That‘s where my figure of $62-63 million came from. $55 million increased by 13.6% is about $62.48 million. And no completed contracts between now and then will change that.
Jerry prefers to negotiate when deadlines make signing quickly a good idea for both sides, so I expect that the Cowboys will conclude negotiations with Dak (and Micah and CeeDee) after June 1, but before the end of training camp.
Which is exactly when I expected it last winter.
The Boys have signed none of the Big 3 to new contracts. Not Parsons, not semi-holdout Ceedee, and not Dak who played for 4 years at 4th round money with no holdout or complaint, then was tagged twice before he ever got a new deal. Elliott held out with 2 years left to his rookie deal. Ceedee is not playing without a new deal. Parsons is out making contacts to leave the Boys if the money doesn’t come. The Boys annually are at the very bottom of spending on players. Don’t be surprised if Jerry lets all 3 go or be traded as he lowballs a cheaper team.