Getty Dak Prescott
Another NFL expert heard from.
Countering the pessimistic national consensus regarding the Dallas Cowboys‘ stymied contract negotiations with Dak Prescott, FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer zealously reported in his latest mailbag that the organization and its cornerstone quarterback will come to an agreement.
So sure of his likely-sourced prognostication, Glazer leaves zero room for doubt — or misinterpretation. This deal is happening, he affirmed, at a value less than Prescott’s supposed $40 million annual asking price.
“Dak will be the quarterback of the Cowboys. Period. End of story,” Glazer wrote for The Athletic. “I don’t see him getting 40. I see Patrick Mahomes as the first $40 million-a-year guy. Whatever he does, any other team can look and say, “Well, you didn’t win an MVP and a Super Bowl MVP so you’re not going to make as much as that.” But whether they franchise Dak, give him an extension, or whatever it is, it’s going to get done. He will be the quarterback of the future for the Cowboys, and no, he’s not asking for 40.”
That Dak wants to shatter the league’s current QB market isn’t a well-kept secret. But a lesser-known, similarly-unconfirmed desire for the two-time Pro Bowler, according to Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is to usurp Seattle signal-caller Russell Wilson, who’s taking home $35 million per season as part of his four-year, $140 million deal, inked in April 2019.
Hill reported Friday that Prescott turned down a $33 million-per-year offer last September, after which negotiations slowed to a crawl, and, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier this month, hit an “impasse,” with no long-term pact on the horizon.
At this juncture, Dallas is expected to slap the franchise tag on Prescott, who recently expressed disappointment over oft-stalled discussions and contempt toward the tag, which would pay him approximately $27 million guaranteed for 2020.
“We’ll get to that when we get to that,” he told reporters earlier this month, via the Dallas Morning News. “I look forward to talking to my agents and when that [franchise tag] comes to play, the direction that we’ll go. Until that’s a reality, I won’t worry about it. But I do feel like some of this should get done. I’m a little disappointed that it hasn’t, but that’s part of it.”
Prescott, who walked back previous contractual optimism, is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on March 18. The deadline to use the tag is March 10; the team would then have until July 15 to lock him down beyond next season.
Using what little leverage he has, Prescott — fresh off a career season in which he set new personal bests with 4,902 passing yards and 30 touchdowns — wouldn’t commit to showing his face at Cowboys headquarters, nor even training in North Texas, absent an extension.
In an interview with the Star-Telegram, Cowboys VP Stephen Jones once again used the U-word — “urgent” — to signify the importance of signing Prescott and, by association, avoiding a potential holdout.
“We want to get this done,” Jones said. “Things are fixing to heat up. We want to put every foot forward and try to grind this out and get a deal done.”
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Aikman Forecasts End to Dak-Dallas Saga
Reacting to Schefter’s claim that Prescott’s franchise tag appears “inevitable,” Hall-of-Fame QB Troy Aikman weighed in with his own take. Centered around its own inevitability, his projection differs drastically from what Schefter’s sources surmised.
“I think the Cowboys, they’ve said it, I believe they really want him back. I have no reason to think otherwise,” Aikman said in a radio interview, via the Dallas Morning News. “I believe Mike McCarthy really wants him back. Dak wants to be there. I think it’s inevitable that they are going to reach a deal.
“I think everyone understands that he’s the quarterback of the future.”
Per Schefter, the parties still cannot settle on a monetary value for Prescott, the basis for what’s becoming an increasingly hostile situation. Although the Cowboys “strongly prefer” a multi-year deal, they’ve engaged in fruitless negotiations over the last several months “without coming close to a resolution.”
If the brain trust were smart, Aikman inferred, they’ll find a middle ground with Prescott as soon as possible, for fear of the QB market — expected to be shattered by Kansas City Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes — further resetting.
“I think that with each month that passes, every couple of months that pass I think the price goes up at least a little bit as other deals get done,” Aikman said.
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL