Follow the Money: Breakdown of Cowboys QBs salaries, cap hits
It should be no surprise that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would never give up the final say. Be honest with yourself, would you give up control if you owned the Cowboys? From social media to deep-rooted content creators, there seems to be an endless supply of comments regarding what Dallas should do with their roster, but things will always lie in the hands of the Joneses.
And how have they allocated their large treasure chest when it comes to building a winner? This series takes a look at how Dallas has allocated their salary cap and what’s on tap for the 2024 season, prior to the start of the new league year.
First up, is the quarterback position. Hat tip to Over The Cap for the base numbers of each player’s contract.
Dak Prescott | Age: 30 | Cap Hit: $59,455,000 – 23.9% | UFA: 2025
Prescott is entering the final year of his four-year, $160 million contract that paid him an average annual salary of $40 million per season. Not trying to beat a dead horse but a quarterback’s contract has as much to do with timing than actual performance. If a team doesn’t have a serious and reliable long-term answer at the position, they have little choice but to pay market rate. That was evident when the Giants gave quarterback Daniel Jones the same contract Prescott received from the Cowboys, albeit a couple of years later. Prescott has a $29 million base salary, a $25.4 million hit from previous prorated bonuses, and a $5 million roster bonus, due in early March, making his $59.4 million cap hit the second-highest in the league.
This does not include the $25.4 million owed in 2025 and the $11 million cap charge in 2026 thanks in part to void years added by the team to lessen the hit in years past. Yes, Dallas will still have to pay for Prescott’s remaining balance if he were to leave via free agency after 2024.
To the dismay of many, extending Prescott would be the easiest way to lower his cap hit. If not, using almost a quarter of your team’s salary cap should be a cautionary tale on why kicking the can down the road can be costly.
Trey Lance | Age: 23 | Cap Hit: $5,310,717 - 2.1% | UFA: 2025
Accounting for the third-overall draft selection on a payroll usually comes with much larger cap ramifications.
The reason why the Cowboys acquired quarterback Trey Lance from San Francisco is still unclear. Come early May, Dallas must decide on his fifth-year option which would add a significant cap charge in 2025.
The cost would be $19.1 million and it would be a guaranteed contract; exercising his option feels unlikely at this point. As for 2024, Lance is guaranteed $5.3 million with no relief if he were to be released. The only way to get out from under his contract numbers would be to trade him to another team.
Cooper Rush | Age: 30 | Cap Hit: $2,875,000 - 1.2% | UFA: 2025
Cooper Rush has done a marvelous job of backing up the franchise quarterback. In their time of need, Rush kept Dallas afloat in 2022, giving the team a fighting chance when Prescott was injured.
In 2023, his $1.5 million base salary combined with his $625,000 prorated bonus counted a mere 0.9% of the cap. In 2024, his base salary jumps to $2.25 million with the same $625,000 bonus yet only rises to 1.2% of the cap.
Quarterback Recap: 27.2% of cap
Draft Capital spent:
4th Round Pick (2016), 4th Round Pick (2024)
Dallas must address this situation before they can move forward with any major moves involving the roster. Over a quarter of a club’s cap dollars going into the quarterback room is a big reason why chasing outside free agents has been virtually non-existent.
Prescott accounted for 11.7% of the 2023 cap so getting the current number around that percentage in his first year of an extension would be a huge win for Dallas. A timely agreement would allow the Cowboys to attack free agency rather than wait and sift through the leftovers. The backup quarterback job could get interesting this summer.
