As the NFL world awaits a resolution with Russell Wilson in Seattle, there is “no chance” Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott shops his wares when unrestricted free agency officially opens March 17, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday.
“He’ll get franchise-tagged again or he’ll do a deal. Or he’ll do a deal in July which makes some sense,” Rapoport said on the Pat McAfee Show, referring to the July 15 deadline for tagged players to ink long-term contracts.
But, RapSheet, reports suggest the Cowboys and Prescott are not anywhere close to a multi-year agreement despite ongoing negotiations …
“I don’t pay attention to that kind of stuff, because no one is ever near a deal until a deal gets done,” Rapoport hedged. “Too many times I’ve gotten off with the phone with the agent and reported, ‘Source: Team and agent not close on a deal.’ Then like two hours a deal gets done.”
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More on Dak’s Supposed Demand
NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported Monday that Dallas is “still trying to truly” reach a long-term pact with Prescott. However, Slater also brought to light an interesting nugget pertaining to Dak’s leverage in lucrative talks: he wants to be capital-P Paid.
“Last year’s [offer to Prescott] was in the ballpark of Russell Wilson/Jared Goff-type money. Now he’s looking to be paid right behind Patrick Mahomes, a guy who’s gone to the Super Bowl two years in a row. Dak hasn’t done that yet,” Slater said on the Dan Patrick Show. “[The Cowboys] feel like it’s been a respectable offer. His camp believes that he needs to bear what the market value is. They feel like this deal should have gotten done two years ago, so ‘your problems with money aren’t our problems, it’s about respect.'”
Although Rapoport stopped short of co-signing Slater’s hearsay, the veritable news-breaker intimated that Prescott deserves a market-value deal — and the market is, suffice to say, prosperous.
“The quarterback market is interesting because you have the Mahomes deal which is so long; it averages 45 [million] a year but it’s not really that. It’s really 40 million over the first five years, 50 million over the next five,” he said. “[Texans QB] Deshaun [Watson] is at 39. To me, if Dak Prescott’s looking at this, he should be saying, ‘I should be about there.'”
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Additional Context via Slater
After the above quote was relayed by multiple outlets, Slater clarified that Prescott is not necessarily seeking to land in the ballpark of Mahomes’ record-shattering $503 million extension, at least on a total value basis.
“A deal behind what Mahomes got. That’s market value,” Slater reaffirmed Tuesday. “But I was reporting last year Cowboys tried to put him at 50M signing bonus, 110M guaranteed and roughly 35 APY. We don’t know the numbers this year”
She added: “Both sides will need to give this year to get a long term deal done. Cowboys have never done less than 5 years. They want breathing room to structure. Could there be bigger guarantee or signing bonus? Told discussions not there yet but they have been “good talks” lately so”
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Cowboys Decide Whether to Let Dak Prescott Hit Free Agency: Report