Dallas Cowboys long-term future with Dak Prescott looking cloudy

Pessimists unite! It just got harder for the Dallas Cowboys to lock down Dak Prescott.

By now, everyone who’s been paying attention knows that the Dallas Cowboys were unable to sign their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott to a long-term contract. For the second year in a row. If you’re new to this drama, it started in the offseason last year.

The idea was to lock up Prescott to a long-term contract, just as the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams had with their star quarterbacks: Carson Wentz and Jared Goff.

It’s much easier to sign a star player when the deal is done early, especially when said player is still on a rookie contract. The team has more leverage. The player gets his money earlier. The team gets to lock down their star for a long time. It’s a good deal for everyone.

But the Cowboys weren’t able to get it done last year. So, this year they didn’t have as much leverage. And they didn’t want to write a blank check to the Pro Bowl quarterback. So, signing day came and went without a long-term deal.

All of this means that Prescott and the Dallas will be going through their own personal Groundhog Day of negotiations for the third offseason in a row next year.

Unfortunately, if you’ve been paying attention as I have, I don’t see this getting any easier. It looks to me like it’s just going to get harder. Last year, the Cowboys had most of the leverage.

Prescott was the lowest-paid starting quarterback in the league. He was making about a million dollars a year. If he’d signed a contract, he probably would have gotten a signing bonus of ten million dollars or more. Sounds like a pretty big incentive to me.

This year, Prescott knew that if he didn’t sign a contract, he’d still earn $31.4 million on the franchise tag. But he also knew that if he signed a deal, he’d probably make more. Plus, he’d have the long-term financial security of potentially over $100 million guaranteed. That sounds like a pretty good incentive to me too.

But next year? What incentive will Prescott have? What leverage will the Cowboys have? The answer to both questions is the same: very little. Next year, the franchise tag will net Dak $37.7, according to Clarence Hill at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

That means without a deal, Dak will earn over $70 million over the next two years. That sounds like plenty of financial security to me. Who needs a long-term contract?

I’ll tell you who: the fans, and the head coach. Anyone who wants to see the Cowboys be a consistently good team for the conceivable future wants Prescott to be locked down for years to come.

Look, I don’t begrudge Prescott making every dollar he can. This is America. It’s what everyone’s trying to do. The problem is that he’s negotiating with Jerry Jones, who’s famous for his negotiating skills.

On top of all that, the ball thrower’s agent is none other than Todd France, who apparently loves the franchise tag and not signing long-term contracts. The super-agent has two other players also playing on the franchise tag this season, safety Justin Simmons of the Denver Broncos, and edge rusher Bud Dupree of the Pittsburgh Steelers according to Joel Corry at CBS Sports and Todd Archer at ESPN.

Rock, meet hard place. I just don’t see how a long-term deal gets signed, next year or ever maybe, given these circumstances. Do you? I just see a bunch of stubborn high-powered people not returning each other’s phone calls.

I don’t want to end on a note of gloom and doom. The truth is that all parties concerned could easily overcome these hurdles. The Cowboys could be more willing to sign a generous deal, and Prescott could become a little more flexible.

But that’s not the direction we’re going in now. At the moment, it doesn’t look good.