Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys will once again try to negotiate a long-term contract this offseason, but they may still have quite a ways to go in negotiations.
Michael Lombardi of The Athletic discussed Prescott’s contract situation during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan’s “Shan and RJ” show on Wednesday. He does not think the Cowboys will be able to sign Prescott to a long-term deal if they offer anything less than $40 million per year.
“I think giving him what he wants is really going to be a challenge,” Lombardi said.”(Prescott’s agent) Todd France isn’t going to admit Patrick Mahomes is better than Dak, even though he is. He’s not going to admit that Deshaun Watson is better than Dak, even though he is. … Because of the situation, the market is so that it’s no longer who’s better and who deserves more, it’s who can get more. I think that unless Jerry (Jones) and Stephen (Jones) are willing to get in that $40 million a year range near Deshaun Watson, they really don’t have much more that they can do.”
Mahomes is currently the highest-paid quarterback in football at $45 million per year. There’s a significant drop-off after that to Deshaun Watson, whose average annual salary is $39 million. The belief is that Prescott will want his contract to be somewhere between those two.
The Cowboys have the option of using the franchise tag on Prescott again, but they would have to pay him $37.7 million in 2021 if he plays under it. That is not ideal for a team that is expected to be tight on salary cap space. Lombardi noted that the cap situation may be Prescott’s best leverage in contract talks.
It was reported last year that Prescott and the Cowboys only disagreed over the length of a potential long-term deal. However, it sounds like money is at least somewhat of an issue.
One former NFL quarterback recently explained why he thinks Prescott should give the Cowboys a hometown discount, but that seems unlikely to happen with where things currently stand.
