In 2019, Dak Prescott was in a pivotal position going into the last year of his rookie contract. This contract ended up being one of the smartest contracts in NFL history. After winning the job as the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback, his brilliant performance under center led to talk of a franchise-extending extension. There’s plenty for Prescott to take exception to in the franchise’s missteps during his contract negotiations. In turn, they are now looking at an insurmountable financial knock-out of $100 million in penalties.
In 2024, Prescott officially signed a four-year contract extension worth $160 million, $126 million guaranteed, averaging $40 million per year. The Cowboys’ procrastination in 2019 opened the door for a much more player-friendly agreement than they originally anticipated. Had they moved with urgency then, they would’ve signed franchise tags out of necessity and saved themselves millions in the process.
While the Cowboys continue to negotiate with Prescott on an ongoing basis, fallout from these contract negotiations goes deeper than Prescott. CeeDee Lamb‘s extension is another point of contention, as the team delayed signing him to a new deal and now faces costly consequences. The ever-changing quarterback contract landscape makes the situation worse, locking Dallas into a corner when it comes to their star players.
The 2019 Decision Point
Dak Prescott’s debut into the fifth and final year of his rookie contract in 2019 came with massive expectations. Prescott had long since proven to be a focal leader and crucial playmaker for the Cowboys on and off the field. It was a critical fork-upon-the-road moment for the team. They had the opportunity to extend Prescott for a deal far less than the one he ultimately received.
In doing so, the Cowboys simultaneously lost a golden chance to secure their long-term future. Had they pursued serious negotiations in 2019, they would not have had to place franchise tags on Prescott. This would have prevented them from the corrosion years later. First, they allowed time to run out on their quarterback’s contract. This choice resulted in costlier repercussions later.
In 2024, Prescott did an enormous short-term deal with $129 million fully guaranteed at signing. Plus, it had a staggering $231 million in injury guarantees. In short, this figure underscores his importance to the team. It sheds light on the degree to which quarterback salaries are inflating league-wide. Prescott’s story serves as a warning that pushing off negotiations for extended periods can impose a heavy financial burden, particularly when market conditions are moving so quickly.
The Market Forces at Play
With each passing day, other quarterbacks started signing bigger and fatter deals that raised the average annual salary to new heights. Jared Goff’s $53 million per year salary and Tua Tagovailoa’s $53.1 million annual salary established new highs in the NFL. Such numbers dramatically increased Prescott’s bargaining strength.
The Cowboys were now the ones following market trends instead of leading them. When players like Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love Iffranc-dreammountainwalk-2048 contracts valued at over $270 million, Prescott’s leverage skyrocketed. The Cowboys ended up with no ability to negotiate from a position of strength. In turn, they reached an agreement that most observers hailed as the most player-friendly deal in football by 2024.
What’s more, as other QBs joined the battle lines with gigantic deals, Prescott’s leverage only increased. And by 2024, there was some speculation that he could be making upward of $60 million annually. This prediction was due to contract all the growing trends with a formal NFL contracts. This untenable scenario deprived Dallas of feasible options and led to their eventual fiscal albatross.
CeeDee Lamb and Future Implications
The effects of the time lost in getting Dak Prescott signed reverberated to CeeDee Lamb too, as he was eligible for an extension through 2023. The Cowboys’ decision to wait on Lamb’s contract led them to miss out on more favorable terms for a player who had yet to establish himself as an All-Pro receiver.
The four-year, $122 million extension for Lamb struck the team as aggressive. They viewed it as a strategic imperative. Rather than paying big to acquire his services, it was Lamb’s long-term performance that helped him land one of the league’s most player-friendly deals in recent memory. This really is a great example of how waiting can erode negotiating leverage and increase liability for teams.
Beyond Dak, the prospect of an impending Micah Parsons extension is the third challenge facing the Cowboys here. The team remains intent on at least meeting Nick Bosa’s recent 15% AAV ceiling. Locally, they are hoping for a four-year extension valued at $152 million for Parsons. The financial implications of Prescott and Lamb’s contracts may limit Dallas’s ability to retain its key players moving forward.
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