How NOT to Solve the Dak Prescott Problem
The first step is admitting that there should not even be a problem.
So you want to move on from Dak Prescott after this season, Jerry Jones. You came to the right place: Too Deep Zone is here with creative solutions to quarterback conundrums!
But … how is this even a quarterback conundrum?
According to our records, Prescott is not some aging, broken-down veteran coming off a disappointing year. In fact, he turns 31 years old in July – that’s a quality quarterback’s prime – and he’s coming off a season where he led the NFL in passing touchdowns and finished as the runner-up for the MVP award.
Our records also indicate that the Cowboys are not a cap-strapped rebuilding team. They’ve gone 12-5 and reached the playoffs for three straight years.
Most of your star players are pretty young, Jerrah. And while the Cowboys are tight against the cap at the moment, you have $100 million in cap space available in 2025 and more-or-less unlimited cap space beyond that.
There are also no credible reports of any Aaron Rodgers/Russell Wilson-type headaches. If anything, you’re the biggest cause of headaches in Dallas, Jerrah, not your quarterback. Yes, we heard about the one-way mirrors so folks could watch players work out. Ew. You should take those down. But that’s a topic for another conversation.
Are you sure you don’t want to offer Prescott an extension? I’m only asking because letting his contract expire is a little like deciding you are not changing the oil anymore on the late-model Lexus you are still paying off, purely out of some combination of stubbornness and spite. After all, the most likely scenario for 2024 goes like this:
The Cowboys reach the playoffs again;
Prescott has another Pro Bowl-caliber season;
If Prescott stays in 2025, it’s at a market-resetting salary;
If he leaves in 2025, the Cowboys are left without a quarterback or a quarterback solution.
The Cowboys could probably extend Prescott through 2026 for about $120 million in new money. In fact, let’s propose a hypothetical new contract: a three-year, $175-million extension, with Prescott’s $29-million 2024 salary factored in and a little fluff on the back end. You can tear up the four void years at the end of his current deal (and the $40 million in dead cap hits that come with it) and replace them with one void year in 2027 for bonus proration. You can lower his 2024 salary a bit by converting his $29 million in compensation into bonus money, earning a little cap relief for this year. You keep Prescott for the remainder of the current Super Bowl window; someone else can pay for his Wilson-in-Denver years.
So, we could call Todd France right now. What do you say?