Dak Prescott: How much will outside negotiations help him?

The Dallas Cowboys might have to wait on outside negotiations before Dak Prescott signs his deal.

I am of the belief that deadlines make deals in the Dallas Cowboys front office. When it comes to the pending longterm contract negotiations between the team and quarterback Dak Prescott‘s representatives, the two sides have until July 15th to agree on a new deal. And I fully expect that they will come to an agreement by that deadline.

I say this confidently because of what has been reported, with Prescott allegedly wanting a four-year contract while the Cowboys would like to complete a five-year deal. For those conspiracists out there that say Dallas isn’t completely on board with him as their franchise quarterback of the future, why would the team apparently fight for a fifth year if he wasn’t their guy?

I believe that if the Cowboys can’t agree to a fifth year, the front office will pull the trigger right before the July 15th deadline and give Prescott the four-year deal he covets. This would allow Dak to hit the free-agent market once the new television revenue begins and the salary cap spikes.

This also puts a lot of pressure on this young signal-caller to succeed, which I believe Prescott can. But if he flops for any reason, his agent could look bad for possibly advising a shorter deal for his client.

Now, we come to the outside factors. I project that Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is going to receive $40 million a year on his new deal. With a championship in hand and the absolute physical tools that cannot be compared to anyone else, Mahomes can pretty much as for anything he wants. But what if he wants to be likened to Tom Brady and takes a significant discount to remain competitive?

I don’t see why Mahomes would do this since the Chiefs can line up just about any NFL caliber talent in his offense and he would undoubtedly succeed. But it’s an option he can opt for have the Brady blueprint to follow. Would those negotiations stall a new Prescott deal? I’m not so sure.

If Mahomes indeed does get $40 million a year, Prescott undeniably has a ceiling. And a deal could be rapidly pushed if this happens.

This cross-state rival’s contract situation certainly has Dak Prescott’s attention

As much as I admire and believe in Dak Prescott, he is no Patrick Mahomes. But I do have Prescott slightly ahead of Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson is an electric player with a live arm and carries the first-round pedigree but I still favor Dak.

On the flip side of this, I think that the Texans are going to pull a play from the Los Angeles Rams playbook and severely reset the market at quarterback. This is the deal everyone should be paying attention to.

Head coach and de facto general manager Bill O’Brien has made some curious moves this offseason and it wouldn’t surprise me if he goes for broke on the Watson deal. I cannot stress how fast I want July 15th to arrive without a new deal for Watson.

I think that Houston traded arguably the best wide receiver in the game in DeAndre Hopkins because they didn’t want to meet his salary demands. And the Texans are making room for a Watson deal. Dallas has to hope that Houston doesn’t pull this off before July 15th.

A $40 million per year deal for Watson would be extremely bad news for the Cowboys front office. Especially if he gets it done before Mahomes. If Watson were to get $40 million, that might obligate Mahomes to get $42-$45 million a year. Prescott would undoubtedly ask to be somewhere in between them.

I was ridiculed a couple of months ago for suggesting that Prescott take a six-year $222 million deal. That is an average of $37 million a year and makes him the first $200 million player in the NFL. With the suggested deals I wrote above, those hypothetical Dak numbers don’t seem that bad anymore, do they?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is how the salary cap era works. No matter how astronomical the numbers seem, they are always pushed aside and the next man up gets a better deal. It’s not about where they land on the NFL scale. It’s about stability at the position and what your franchise looks like without them.

So unless another big name quarterback gets a deal before Dak Prescott, I urge everyone to take a big breath, exhale, and just relax. The deal will get done.