Dak Prescott isn’t tradeable for the Dallas Cowboys

For over a month Dallas Cowboys fans have been hearing about fictional Dak Prescott trade scenarios, but the reality is he’s not all that tradeable

For months we’ve been hearing about trade scenarios involving Dak Prescott (see also: every Dak hater on Twitter). The general line of thinking is this: If Dak is going to ask for so much money, the Dallas Cowboys should just trade him. By trading Dak, Dallas would save a ton on at the QB position. They could load up their roster and fill QB1 either with a modestly priced veteran or a promising rookie.

Because if some other team thinks Dak Prescott is really a franchise caliber QB, they certainly would be willing to part with a high first round draft pick or two right? Well, yes. The QB position is paramount in the NFL and the most stacked rosters in the league have trouble winning if they don’t have a strong quarterback to lean on. So, yeah, teams would line up to trade for Dak Prescott if Dallas actually put him on the trade block. The problem is, trading him is not a very feasible option.

This is no slight to Dak Prescott, but the guy isn’t a tradeable commodity right now. For starters, he’s unsigned. Dallas can’t trade a player they don’t have under contract. In the next two weeks they’ll probably slap him with the franchise tag, but unless he signs it (which he won’t), they can’t unilaterally trade him. They’ll need him to agree to play ball.

The tag simply prevents other teams from signing him in free agency. It doesn’t put him under contract until he actually signs the thing. And he won’t sign the franchise for three reasons:

1. He’s negotiating a long-term deal.
2. He wants the right to skip all offseason team activities for leverage in negotiations.
3. He doesn’t want to give up control of his future and potentially get traded somewhere less than optimal.

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As someone who loves team building in sports, the logic of trading Dak is understandable. Fans want Dallas to sign as many players as possible in free agency and paying a player $35 million per season limits the team’s ability to do that.  Fans are obsessed with the potential of the draft and seem to value unknown prospects more than proven entities. And some fans aren’t sold on Dak and know deep in their heart no matter what he accomplishes they’ll never like him as QB1 (I write about here: Understanding the Dak Hate)

I fervently disagree with the “logic” above – but I understand it. Again, I love team building.

It doesn’t, matter what you or I think about Dak Prescott. He’s just not in a tradeable situation right now. It will take all parties involved to be onboard to make a trade happen, and frankly that just ain’t gonna happen.

Right now we shouldn’t be arguing over whether or not Dallas keeps Dak. They are keeping him. The discussion should be about how long they sign him. A short term deal would be financially devastating to the Cowboys (yet, the people who dislike Dak keep pushing for this for some reason). A long-term deal in the 5-6 year range is the best possible option right now. Again, that’s even if you don’t particularly like Dak.

Catch up here on the “why”:

It really doesn’t matter what we think of the draft options or the free agents available, a trade just isn’t going to happen. Let’s worry about just signing someone this week.

• Published on 02/29/2020 at 23:01 PM
• Last updated at 02/29/2020 at 08:57 AM