Dallas Cowboys: Length of Dak Prescott’s Deal is Overblown

Show of hands: Who here thought the Dallas Cowboys would finish 6-10 last season? Not many right? On a roster as loaded as Dallas was last year, it was nearing Super Bowl or bust expectations.

Now think back about how you felt going into the past few seasons. When the 12-4 Dallas Cowboys lost to the Packers (Dez caught it) in the 2014 postseason, who would have thought they’d go 4-12 just one season later? And who would have thought Tony Romo, after arguably his best season to-date, would only start four more games for the Cowboys?

After going 13-3 behind a pair of rookies in 2016, who expected Dallas to go just 9-7 and miss the playoffs in 2017? No one.

The point is – the NFL is unpredictable and we can hardly see a couple games down the road, let alone a couple seasons. So why are we all hung up on the length of Dak Prescott’s next deal?

Over the past two years, the Cowboys have been pushing for a five or six year deal that would allow them to push money back and ultimately underpay him down the road. Dak and his agent Todd France have been pushing for a shorter deal that would allow him to be a free agent in 2024 when all the new TV money hits.

Related Story. Brace yourselves, Dak may want a 3-year deal now. light

That’s why we’ve been speculating all winter that Dak will now be asking for a 3-year deal. He has the same desire to be a free agent in 2024 that he’s always had. It’s the year he’s concerned with, not technically the length of the contract.

The Dallas Cowboys should agree to a 3-year deal with Dak Prescott if that’s what it takes

Whether you love Dak or hate him, the idea of a 3-year deal shouldn’t be such a big deal. As illustrated at the top of the article, we don’t even know how next season is going to unfold. Why are we stressing out about four years down the road?

The Dallas Cowboys will try to convince you a long-term deal is for the good of the team. They’ll say it will free up more money to spend on other players and make the Cowboys an all-around better team. But that assumes the salary cap is actually an impenetrable barrier and assumes they’d spend the money if they had it.

we shouldn’t be so focused on the future unknown, that we sacrifice what we know to be true right now. 90 percent of the roster will have turned over by 2024. We have no idea what this team will be

Those who’ve been paying attention know neither is true. The cap is easy to work around and even when the Cowboys have extra money, they prefer not to spend it. The Joneses will mention the cap to get fans to turn against Dak, but the truth is it’s a structure created by the ownership themselves to maximize their profits and reduce player compensation. It’s a self-inflicted wound.

At the end of the day, we shouldn’t worry ourselves about four years down the road. Going by churn rates, 90 percent of the roster will have turned over. We have no idea what this team will look like. Amari will probably be gone. Zeke will be gone. Tank too. Who knows what Dak will look like by then. We just don’t know because the NFL is so dang hard to predict.

What we should be concerned about is the here and now. Making this team as good as it can be for the short-term. No, that doesn’t involve overspending and setting ourselves up for failure down the road, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be so focused on the unknown that we sacrifice what we know to be true right now.

If you could lock Dak Prescott up today for 3yrs at 39M/yr but you wouldn’t be allowed to franchise tag him in 2024, would you #CowboysNation ? #DallasCowboys
— Reid D Hanson (@ReidDHanson) February 9, 2021

Let’s say Dak wants that 3-year deal. So what? Let’s build the best possible team for the next three years and we’ll handle 2024 when we get there. It’s a heck of a lot better than rebuilding now without a quarterback.