Dak Prescott is likely on the verge of becoming the highest-paid player in NFL history, and the only question is how much the Dallas Cowboys are willing to shell out. The market has already been set with recent contract extensions for Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Russell Wilson, but one former NFL executive beliefs Prescott’s deal is going to dwarf the ones those three quarterbacks signed prior to the season.
Mike Tannenbaum, who served as the executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins and GM of the New York Jets before that, said on ESPN Radio recently that he believes Prescott could get $400 million from the Cowboys. He’s thinking $40 million per year over 10 years for the 26-year-old.
Former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum said on ESPN radio that he thinks Dak Prescott will end up signing a $400 million deal with the Cowboys. Ten years, $40 million per year
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 8, 2019
Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
Tannenbaum is a huge fan of Prescott and went on record as saying the Cowboys should have paid him before they rewarded Ezekiel Elliott for his holdout, but there’s no reason to think Prescott is going to get that much money — unless the majority of it is non-guaranteed. If that’s the case, the overall number doesn’t really matter all that much anyway.
Wilson is slightly older than Prescott, but he is a six-time Pro Bowler who has already won a Super Bowl. He was 30 when he signed his four-year, $140 million extension with the Seattle Seahawks last offseason. The deal is worth $35 million per year and includes $107 million guaranteed. Goff, who is a year younger than Prescott, got a similar deal from the Los Angeles Rams back in September. Goff agreed to a four-year, $134 million contract that includes a record $110 million guaranteed. Another comparable deal would be the four-year, $128 million contract Carson Wentz signed with the Philadelphia Eagles during the offseason. Wentz got roughly $108 million guaranteed.
The Cowboys can sign Prescott to some flashy extension if they want, but the market has already been set. They’ll probably want to pay him roughly the same amount in guaranteed money as the aforementioned quarterbacks got, in which case Prescott would likely prefer not to sign a 10-year deal so he has the option of becoming a free agent again when he’s still in his prime.
Prescott is having an outstanding season with over 4,000 yards passing, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, so he couldn’t have timed his breakout year any better. He’ll almost certainly become the highest-paid player in football, but the Cowboys have other key players they want to re-sign as well. There’s no need to pay Prescott some unprecedented amount of money that he would have no chance of getting elsewhere.
