Will the Dallas Cowboys make the Dak Prescott deadline?

The Dallas Cowboys have until Wednesday to agree to a deal with Dak Prescott

It is finally crunch time for the Dallas Cowboys. This week, both sides have to either show their hand or dig in and prepare for another year of questions from the media and each other. The question is, who will be the first to blink.

Some people say that the Dak Prescott side has already blinked a little by signing the franchise tender but I attribute that more to the current state of the nation rather than an actual blink. Either way, it’s time for the Dallas Cowboys to bend a little when it comes to contract negotiations.

There are conflicting rumors about when the Dallas Cowboys and the Dak’s camp have had talks but as the old saying goes “deadlines make deals”. Conspiracy theorists on social media have hinted that the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott have already agreed to terms and have put off announcing the deal for a more dramatic storyline.

It would not put it past Jones to do something like this as any news is good news for the brand. If the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a deal with their franchise quarterback, the supposed deal of a four-year deal with a $35 million per year average is a loss for the Cowboys if it is not an extension.

An extension to his current franchise tender of roughly $31 million this year would essentially make it a five-year, $167 million contract with an average annual salary of $34.4 million. If you look a the deal that Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes just signed, the Cowboys get a loss in both columns.

Mahomes signed a 10-year $450 million extension. He had two years and $27 million dollars remaining meaning his deal is actually a 12-year, $477 million contract excluding incentives. That averages to $39.75 million a year which hurts now but will look at a bargain once the new television money allows the salary cap to spike.

Giving Prescott $35 million for four years gives him the highest average salary not named Mahomes with a chance for him to hit the market again and destroy the Mahomes contract depending on his success. It does give the Cowboys an early out but looking back to the post-Troy Aikman days, I don’t want any part of finding a quarterback anytime soon.

Mahones has actually done the league a favor by essentially capping the quarterback market. It will be awfully hard to go into negotiations and ask for more money than Mahomes. Bears and Rams pass rusher’s Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald still have not had their deals surpassed so I think that case will be the same for the quarterback market.

So will the Dallas Cowboys come to terms with Dak Prescott this year?

My gut feeling says yes but if Monday comes and goes and there aren’t any reports of the team in negotiations with him I have to think two things. First, the ongoing pandemic has clouded the waters so much that the Dallas Cowboys are going to wait and see what the future holds especially in regards to the salary cap.

Second, a much more sinister thought, is that the Dallas Cowboys are not going to go past a certain dollar amount and that they will wait and see if Dak Prescott is a fit in new head coaches Mike McCarthy’s system and will pay him what he wants next year.

The Dallas Cowboys thinking could be that Prescott’s demands are so high that the Mahomes cap now gives them a ceiling that cannot be passed so it may be franchise friendly to make sure Dak is their guy moving forward without really affecting his demands or shifting the market.

I am and have been on the record as saying I am a Prescott guy. A deal would certainly quiet the conspiracy theorists while not coming to terms will only fuel the fires. I hope that a deal comes to fruition and the massive deal I wrote about earlier this offseason, which now seems like a bargain, are the terms they agree to.

The bottom line is the league as well as Dak Prescott now know the ceiling. The only thing that both sides now have to figure out is where is Dak’s bottom dollar.