A short, virtually fully guaranteed Prescott contract? A former agent says yes

As the league is now a couple of days into the franchise tag window, the Cowboys and star quarterback Dak Prescott have spoken but have yet to have a negotiating session since the 2020 season ended. If the tag is not placed by the March 9 deadline and the sides fail to come to an agreement on a long-term contract, Prescott will hit unrestricted free agency on March 17.

If Dak is tagged before the deadline, which will be the case, the Cowboys front office extends their window to put together a long-term deal through mid-July. This process is nothing new to both parties though, as they went back and forth last year, unable to reach a deal by that deadline.

It’s important to remember contract talks kicked off last offseason with Jerry and Stephen offering Prescott a five-year deal worth $175 million. Prescott and his agent, Todd France made it clear they were seeking a four-year deal that would put him back on the market to take advantage of the coming TV deals asthe salary cap is expected to increase significantly. The Cowboys and Prescott apparently came close to a deal in July but couldn’t beat the deadline and ran out of time.

The Cowboys’ QB ended up playing on the tag for $31.4 million and there will be another round of negotiations, headlines, and uncertainty this offseason, all while rehabbing his ankle he fractured in October.

The dynamics of negotiations have changed since last year, according to former agent Joel Corry of CBS Sports.

From his perspective, Prescott now holds even more leverage despite an injury that ended his season in Week 5, as he lead the Cowboys offense to over 30 points per game and was projected to throw for 6,760 yards this season, most in NFL history. Corry mentioned how the front office would have to concede to all the “major aspects” of the deal, including length of contract, average per year, guarantees, signing bonus and contract structure.

Here are the highlights of Corry’s proposed deal.

Signing Bonus: $60 Million
Guaranteed Money: $124.5 Million
Fully Guaranteed At Signing: $100 Million
Overall Dollars: $124.5 Million
Contract Length: 3 Years
Average Per Year: $41.5 Million

The deal would include the highest guaranteed money ever at $124.5 million, surpassing Matt Ryan’s $94.5 million fully guaranteed in 2018, and the $60 million signing bonus would be the second highest in NFL history, right behind Russell Wilson’s $65 million in 2019.

If the Cowboys decide to tag Prescott a second time, it would cost them $37.7 million and he would almost assuredly become an unrestricted free agent in 2022 as the cost of a third franchise tag would be north of $54 million per CBA rules.

While both sides have shown they want to get a deal done, the reality is that the Jones’ have previously shown they will wait out as long as they have to in order to preserve cap space. Both sides have been quiet so far, but as these deadlines approach, it’ll be interesting to see how negations are handled.

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