Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott finally secures the bag

Last year, the Dallas Cowboys free agency period was dominated by one question. Will the Cowboys get a long-term deal done with their franchise quarterback Dak Prescott?

Ultimately, the deal never got done and the two sides agreed to the franchise tag, paying Prescott $31.4M in 2020. On a per-game basis, that tag ended up a sweet deal for Dak.

Due to a gruesome lower leg injury, Prescott only played in five games meaning he received $6.28M per game. Unfortunately, for everyone in the Cowboys organization, including Prescott, that is one number he would have liked to be lower.

Leave it to Dak, always one to overachieve while making everyone happy, to somehow find a way to do just that. On Monday, Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys finally agreed to a deal that will pay the star quarterback up to $164M over four years according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Prescott is set to receive a $66M signing bonus and $75M, including his base salary, in his first year. Those astronomical numbers happen to include the highest signing bonus in NFL history. Now, before you lose your mind, know that there is a lot of good news on the Cowboys’ side as well.

For starters, Prescott’s cap number is greatly reduced from what it would have been under a second tag. Instead of $37.7M, his 2021 cap number will be $22.5M meaning that there will be money available to upgrade the defense.

For another, there will be no inevitable exhausting cloud hanging over this team all year. Everyone, from the front office to the players to the coaches and those of us who cover the team can all stop having to answer or ask questions about if, slash, when, a long-term deal will ever happen. Even if it’s a minor distraction (it’s not), it’s one less distraction which we can all agree is a welcome relief for a team always neck-deep in drama.

The entire focus now shifts from the possibility of a Prescott deal to whether or not he can do what others in his same financial stratosphere have done. Fellow quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers all have equally impressive bank accounts. They also own jewelry that money can’t buy.

If Prescott can bring home that elusive sixth Championship after securing the bag, every single penny of this deal will never be questioned. Prescott has already started the process of helping the team achieve that goal. There is money available to make the team better now that the tag has been avoided. According to NFL.com’s Adam Maya, he is ahead of schedule in his recovery. Finally, the entire focus can no be on the field.