It’s the story that will continue to be a story until the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott reach an agreement and no longer make their contract negotiations the talk of the town in the 2021 offseason. However, until then, we’ll continue to get nuggets and details of the negotiations played out through the media.
Jane Slater of the NFL Network brought the latest report on the Dak Prescott negotiations via the Dan Patrick Show.
On the show, Slater revealed that Prescott and his representatives are looking for Prescott’s new long-term contract to come in right behind Patrick Mahomes. Her source with the team indicated that Prescott and his representatives are looking for a “respectable offer.”
Now of course, what a respectable offer is certainly up for debate. The team has felt they’ve made good enough offers over the last couple of years and Prescott’s side has disagreed. And while it would have been nice to get their franchise quarterback under contract for $30 million a year two years ago, with the way the quarterback market has exploded over the last year, from Prescott’s perspective, it’s hard to argue he and his representatives haven’t made the right decision.
If Prescott is looking to come in right behind Mahomes, as the report suggests, that could mean one of two things.
In terms of average annual value, Mahomes current deal is good for $45 million a year. Second in the NFL in terms of average annual value is Deshaun Watson at $39 million a year. So his representatives could be asking for an average annual value greater than $40 million a year and inching closer to $44 million in average annual value.
However, “right behind” could also mean simply beating Watson’s deal that he signed just before the 2020 season.
Not even the biggest Dak Prescott fan could argue that Prescott is worth more than Patrick Mahomes and it seems his representatives are aware of that as well. But, you can’t rule out Prescott getting more than Watson from the Cowboys based on the similarities of the two quarterback’s resumes.
| Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | From | To | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | Att | Yds | TD |
| 1 | Dak Prescott | 2016 | 2020 | 21.9 | 33.2 | 255.6 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 12.9 | 3.8 | 19.0 | 0.3 |
| 2 | Deshaun Watson | 2017 | 2020 | 22.0 | 32.4 | 269.2 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 19.4 | 5.7 | 31.1 | 0.3 |
Despite playing in 15 fewer games than Prescott, Watson has nearly as many interceptions and28 more sacks than the Cowboys quarterback. Watson certainly has the edge in per game passing numbers, but the Cowboys have the edge on the Texans in winning percentage with their quarterbacks. The Cowboys have won 60% of their games with Dak Prescott at quarterback. The Texans have won just 52% of Deshaun Watson’s starts.
Jane Slater’s source also mentioned that “it’s laughable” that the Cowboys would entertain a trade with the Seattle Seahawks for Quarterback Russell Wilson. The Cowboys are “still trying to truly get this long-term deal done.”
There is still time for the two sides to come to an agreement on a long-term contract before the Cowboys have to use the franchise tag on March 8th. The tag in 2021 will be $37.7 million and if in place by the time free agency starts, will hinder the Cowboys’ ability to get anything done in the early stages. This is why it’s vital that the two sides locked in an agreement before they can begin negotiating with outside free agents on March 15th.
