How is Dak Prescott impacted by the Patrick Mahomes contract?

The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott watched the Kansas City Chiefs extend Pat Mahomes. What effect does it have?

The Dallas Cowboys have been endlessly attempting to sign quarterback Dak Prescott to a long-term deal. Prescott recently just signed his franchise tender of $31.4 million.

This gave the Cowboys’ front office some type of relief for two reasons. One, he is now contractually obligated to return to camp and two, this gives the Cowboys and Prescott until July 15th to work out a long term deal.

But now that the recent news of Patrick Mahomes not only signing the largest contract in NFL history but also the largest contract in North American sports history might raise some concerns during contract negotiations.

As the Prescott talks heated up we watched other quarterbacks such as Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Russell Wilson, and now Patrick Mahomes all strike new deals. Slowly, topping one another. Mahomes being the latest, commanding a monster extension of 10 years worth $450 million. A $45 million per year salary.

Bravo! Chiefs!

You can’t do much but simply applaud the way the Chiefs franchise got this deal done. The numbers Mahomes signed for are gigantic, yet it’s a steal. Why? With Mahomes still having two years left on his past contract, the Chiefs weren’t waiting for the market to settle.

Quarterbacks in the future will be signing for $50 million-plus per year soon enough. The Chiefs went after their best player aggressively, signed him for nearly forever at a reasonable price for his on-field performance. Bravo! Dallas should take notes, instead of dragging out the inevitable and watching the market continuously reset and trend upward.

What all this means for Dak Prescott?

Now by no means necessary is Prescott comparable to Mahomes. Between the statistics and accolades put up by Mahomes, he is in uncharted territory. So, for that reason only I don’t think Prescott touches $40 million per year, never-mind $45 million per year.

Then again, it’s a business and as I always say, when it’s your turn to get paid it’s not about the value of the player, but where the market is set at.

For example, Prescott was allegedly offered Russell Wilson-type money which was declined. Rumor has it that the decline is still over Prescott wanting a four-year deal, opposed to the Cowboys front office wanting a five-year deal.

Whatever the reason is you’d have a hard time finding NFL fans who would consider Prescott better than Wilson. Oh, and he has a Super Bowl ring. But, I’ll guarantee you Prescott will get paid more than him very soon. It’s just how the business and the market works.

This is why the Chiefs got their deal done with Mahomes now and he just jacked the market price up very high for an NFL quarterback. We still need to see how many restructures we may see in the future. But at $45 million per year and only taking up 22.7% of the cap, this is absurd value.

In my prediction, I’m not suggesting Prescott will command $40 million per year because of the new Mahomes deal. But maybe he will inch his way closer to it than we expected. However, I do think the once $35 million per year offer is now the floor and from day one I always thought he’d command around that.

But given next year’s tag would cost Dallas $37.7 million, which Prescott is fully aware of and Mahomes signing for $45 million per year, we may see Dak try to command a bit north of $35 million per year now.

Which the Dallas front office might be okay with because they see the quarterback market being $50 million-plus per year very shortly. So, any deal they strike will become a bargain in about two years.

I hope I am very wrong and the deal that Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys had in place for $35 million annually was just a length issue. Making it over a course of four years or five. Let’s just hope the Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson doesn’t sign before July 15th or we could see an even bigger mess during contract negotiations.