Report: Cowboys prepared to use franchise tag on Dak Prescott again

The Dallas Cowboys have continued to express confidence in signing Dak Prescott to a long-term deal despite his season-ending ankle injury, but history may repeat itself when 2020 ends.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is prepared to place the franchise tag on Prescott once again in 2021, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports. The Cowboys have already budgeted for the possibility of having Prescott play under the tag next season, which would pay him nearly $40 million. Prescott’s injury has not resulted in Dallas altering any of those plans.

The goal for the Cowboys will still be to sign Prescott to a long-term deal, though he would not be the first quarterback to play under the franchise tag in consecutive seasons. Kirk Cousins did it with Washington in 2016 and 2017 before leaving to sign a massive, fully guaranteed contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

La Canfora goes as far as to say the Cowboys tagging Prescott again is “viewed as an inevitability,” though at this point it would simply be to buy more time for long-term negotiations.

Prescott is expected to make a full recovery in time for next offseason, despite how gruesome his ankle injury looked. There were indications that he and the Cowboys were not that far off in contract talks a few months ago, which could make negotiations a bit less complicated this time.