Dak Prescott: Just how much money will Jerry Jones give him?

It is inevitable that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will soon be paid. If he ever hopes to win a Super Bowl, Dak would be wise to take less money.

Dallas Cowboys Owner, President and General Manager Jerry Jones stated this week during a radio interview on 105.3 The Fan that he will sign quarterback Dak Prescott to a contract extension. If true, there is no point in debating if this is a good decision or not. However, the nature of the extension is worthy to consider.

Let’s look at a few of the recent quarterback contracts. The 2018 offseason saw a significant arms race with four contracts setting the highest average contract value in NFL history.

• Aaron Rodgers, 4-years, $134 million, $33.5 million per, 2018 Cap Pct: 18.9%
• Jimmy Garoppolo, 5-years, $137.5 million, $27.5 million per, 2018 Cap Pct: 15.5%
• Alex Smith, 4-years, $94 million, $23.5 million per, 2018 Cap Pct: 13.3%
• Blake Bortles, 3-years, $54 million, $18 million per, 2018 Cap Pct: 10.2%
• Case Keenum, 2-years, $36 million, $18 million per, 2018 Cap Pct: 10.2%
• Tom Brady, 2-years, $30 million, $15 million per, 2018 Cap Pct: 8.5%

Now let’s consider Prescott’s performance measures compared to his peers from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons. The data is courtesy of www.pro-football-reference.com.

• Aaron Rodgers – 8,645 yards, 71 tds, 14 ints, QB Rating: 101.3
• Jimmy Garoppolo – 2,780 yards, 16 tds, 8 ints, QB Rating: 97.8
• Alex Smith – 9,411 yards, 50 tds, 16 ints. QB Rating: 96.3
• Blake Bortles – 9,613 yards, 54 tds, 37 ints, QB Rating: 81.5
• Case Keenum – 8,148 yards, 42 tds, 28 ints, QB Rating: 87.9
• Tom Brady – 10,625 yards, 77 tds, 17 ints, QB Rating: 104.5
• Dak Prescott – 8,651 yards, 55 tds, 22 ints, QB Rating: 94.2

The last piece of information for consideration before we decide a fair market contract for Prescott is an article written by Steven Ruiz published in USA Today. The article shows that the average salary for the Super Bowl-winning quarterback in the salary cap era is only 6.9 percent of the salary cap.

According to Spotrac, 50 percent of teams are allocating their starting quarterback more than 10 percent of the 2018 salary cap.

When considering a comparable performance to baseline contract values, Alex Smith’s statistics are eerily close to what Prescott has produced in his young career. Smith is careful with the football and he has been known to use his legs to scramble for the occasional first down. This is significant because the market rate for this performance is a contract averaging $23.5 million per year.

The most successful NFL franchise in the last two decades is unquestionably the New England Patriots. The biggest advantage the Patriots have over all other franchises is Brady’s contract is significantly undervalued to the performance he delivers.

Consider the difference between Brady and Aaron Rodgers average per year gives the Patriots an $18.5 million salary cap advantage over the Green Bay Packers. The Patriots have exploited this advantage to maximize their roster with the necessary depth to compete year after year for Super Bowls.

Prescott is a very young quarterback destined to receive a very generous payday from his employer. No one will fault him for maximizing his earning potential as he will only have a finite amount of years to throw a football in the NFL.

However, in my opinion, it would be a mistake for Prescott to seek a fair market contract for himself if he values winning a Super Bowl over maximizing his earning potential. An undervalued contract like Brady’s would give the Cowboys a competitive advantage allowing the ‘Boys to add more talented and costly players to the roster.

My plea to Dak Prescott is to not be greedy. A $12 million average per year contract will be more money than he will need to live comfortably. It will allow Prescott to show how much of a leader he truly is by sacrificing his earning potential to give the Dallas Cowboys a chance to sign more talent around him and chase Super Bowls.