Why Dak Prescott should hold out if a deal isn’t done soon

The Dallas Cowboys are in a very finicky position with their starting signal-caller, Dak Prescott. If there’s no deal by training camp, should he hold out?

The Dallas Cowboys are coming off of one of their most disappointing seasons to date. This is actually pretty miraculous considering that we are talking about a team and franchise that hasn’t so much as sniffed the Super Bowl in about a two and a half decades.

Have no fear though. As always, the Cowboys are poised to make a quick turn around in this upcoming season. Jason Garrett or The Red Clapper as some people call him is no longer the man making the calls in Big D. And the guy they brought in as the new head coach, Mike McCarthy, might just be the right guy for the job. At least fans sure hope so.

There are two things that give us hope there though. One being that the former Green Bay Packers head coach has won at the highest level before, albeit with Aaron Rodgers running his team. Second, McCarthy was able to guide Rodgers through his development to become arguably the single most talented quarterback to ever strap up his helmet.

All this quarterback talk has led us to the Cowboys’ starting signal-caller, one Dak Prescott. With Prescott theoretically being a man without a team at the moment as a pending unrestricted free agent (although the Cowboys would never imaginably in their right minds let him go), he needs a new deal in Dallas and as soon as possible.

That leads us here … waiting. And in accordance with the verbal jousting going back and forth between Dak’s camp and the Jones’s through the media, if Prescott doesn’t have a new deal by training camp, should he actually consider sitting out?

As counter-productive to winning the big one as it may seem, my answer may surprise you. And, then again, perhaps it won’t. Yes, Prescott should absolutely sit out if he doesn’t receive a new deal by training camp. Here’s how I see it …

The Dallas Cowboys without a doubt did him a favor in drafting him in the bottom of the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Being projected as a likely third-round selection by NFL.com, a DUI charge (which he was found not guilty of) he received immediately prior to the draft probably cost him. And it may have costed Dak even more if Dallas wouldn’t have taken him late in the fourth.

On the flip side, however, Prescott has been the best quarterback from that class by a ton of accounts (including mine). Last season, he threw for the second most yards in the NFL (4,902) along with a career-high 30 touchdowns. If you ask me, he’s not only outperformed his contract but has been exponentially better than the Jones’s or anybody else thought he would be this early.

The next reason segues perfectly from the previous. Pro sports are relative leagues when it comes to contracts. The Los Angeles Rams’ Jared Goff is the worst of the three quarterbacks from that particular draft, although he is paid the most. According to OverTheCap.com, Goff will incur a $36 million salary cap hit in 2020, the highest for any quarterback in the NFL.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz is the second best passer from this draft class and he signed a four-year, $128 million extension last June. Prescott deserves to be paid higher than either of them.

At the very least, Prescott deserves to be paid similar to Goff, as his overall individual performance has been on par or better than both Wentz and Goff during their four-years in the league. You might the case that Carson is the better overall quarterback. But Wentz’s various injuries seem to negate that argument, while Prescott has yet to miss a single game in Dallas.

The last reason Prescott should hold out if a deal isn’t done soon is for security. Dak plays the most dangerous sport in existence. And one tackle could end it all. Prescott needs to strike while the iron is hot. Although quarterbacks usually get as many as multiple bites at the hefty contract apple.

Those are the reasons why I do believe Dak Prescott should hold out if he doesn’t have a new deal prior to training camp. It worked for running back Ezekiel Elliott last year, resulting in a hefty six-year, $90 million extension. And Prescott deserves to be paid like one of the best quarterbacks in the league because he is.

And as the Dallas Cowboys really don’t have any leverage after Prescott’s stellar individual performance last season, what exactly are they waiting for? If the Cowboys think another franchise quarterback is going to fall out of the sky, as Tony Romo or Dak Prescott himself did, they are dreaming. And they better wake up before it’s too late.