The Dallas Cowboys have roughly one month to sign quarterback Dak Prescott to a long-term deal and avoid him playing the 2020 season on the franchise tag. Worryingly, there appears to be little progress toward that right now, but there’s no cause for concern yet.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano said on “SportsCenter” Wednesday that there is an expectation that talks will restart in the weeks to come, and the belief remains that the two sides will get a long-term deal done.
“The reason that the franchise players are the focus is that there’s a July 15 deadline to sign your franchise player — four weeks from today,” Graziano said, via Robbie Weinstein of 247 Sports. “If you don’t sign them by that deadline you can’t negotiate, by rule, an extension with them until after the season ends. So where it stands with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys is July 15 is the deadline, there have not been significant talks in recent weeks. The expectation is that those talks will ramp up prior to July 15 and that a deal will get done.”
The two sides have been close on money, but the Cowboys want a long-term deal while Prescott would prefer a shorter pact to hit free agency sooner. A four-year deal would allow Prescott to hit the open market again just before he turns 31, which would give him an opportunity to get another nice deal toward the end of his prime.
There is some expectation that talks might go right down to the wire, but there has yet to be any real indication that there’s a danger of nothing getting done.
