The Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott have until July 15 to work out a multi-year deal. Prescott, as a source recently confirmed it to PFT, wants a four-year deal. The Cowboys want five.
From Prescott’s perspective, a four-year deal easily becomes a five- or six-year deal, thanks to the franchise tag. Also, if the Cowboys wanted a five-year deal, they should have done one after Prescott finished the third year of his rookie contract.
Conversely, a five-year deal becomes a six- or seven-year deal, with the franchise tag applied to it on the back end.
By forcing Dak to play out the last year of the deal at $2 million, the leverage now swings to the player, who’ll make $31.4 million in 2020 under the franchise tag if a new deal isn’t done by July 15. And it seems that he’s dug in tightly on wanting a four-year deal, with duration of the contract being a dealbreaker.
The Cowboys are and will continue to be stunned by Dak’s stance. As a fourth-round pick who never received a significant payday, he spurned their best offer in 2019, bet on himself, and will now make huge money this year, whether under the franchise tag or whatever long-term offer the Cowboys make to get him to trade in the money he’d make if he take the Kirk Cousins year-to-year approach. The Cowboys didn’t expect it to get to this point; the question now becomes whether it will get to the point that they pay him $31.4 million for 2020 and stare down the possibility of paying him $37.68 million for 2021.