Dallas Cowboys 7-Round Mock Draft: Dak Prescott unsigned and tagged

Each week we roll through some Dallas Cowboys mock draft scenarios. One week we’ll try to just focus on the defense. One week we’ll take the best player available. One week we’ll attack the trenches while another we’re just trying to trade back.

These exercises help us grasp situations and strategies the Dallas Cowboys could face in the NFL Draft. After 2020’s shocking development that led to CeeDee Lamb falling to Pick 17, it’s clear all ideas need to be on the table because there’s no telling what could happen.

if Dallas doesn’t have Dak signed by the draft, they probably won’t ever have him signed.

In today’s exercise we’re looking at what the Dallas Cowboys could do if the Dak Prescott contract situation lingers on. In this situation, the Cowboys franchise tag Dak but are unable to agree on a new deal by the time the draft comes around in late April.

This Dallas Cowboys 7-round mock draft is based on if Dak Prescott is still unsigned.

As much as the Dallas Cowboys like Dak Prescott, they can’t afford to start the 2021 season with him playing on the tag. Not only will that be costly, but he’ll  most assuredly be playing his last season in Dallas. Franchise QBs like Dak don’t hit the market in their primes often (or ever) and since Dallas will have lost their last bit of leverage (they can’t afford to tag him a 3rd season and he knows it), Dak will go to the highest bidder next offseason.

At some point the Cowboys front office will have to look to the long-term health of the franchise and if they don’t have him signed by the draft, they probably won’t ever have him signed. As such, they need to find a new QB for the team in 2022.

Round 1, Pick 10

QB Trey Lance

6-foot-3, 221lbs

In this situation, the top-3 QBs all go off the board before Dallas picks. But Trey Lance, who many suspect is QB4 in this draft, falls to Dallas at 10. Lance opted out in the 2020 season and with no NFL Combine this year, the North Dakota State signal caller comes with the highest risk and highest reward from a prospect in years.

Jerry Jones, a gambling oil man both in nature and in reality, convinces the draft room the potential reward is worth it and if Dak hasn’t been signed by now, he probably never will be.

Let’s be clear – this scenario is far from optimal. The Dallas Cowboys are ready to win now and it stands to reason, a healthy roster, a familiar defensive scheme, and Dak, make them contenders in 2021. But after two years of failed negotiations, the draft has to be seen as a course altering deadline for them.

Sadly, in this situation, Dak Prescott has not signed his tag either and because of that, Dallas cannot trade him either. They’ll either have to wait until he signs to trade him or use him for one last year. Both of which certifiably stink.