Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys remain at odds over contract talks. The unrestricted free agent quarterback does not have a long term deal in place and the franchise tag is likely to be tendered before a deal is struck. There is certainly a sense of urgency for both parties to get a deal done but both sides reportedly remain far apart in their negotiations. Something has got to give. Who will flinch first? Who has more leverage and therefore has the upper hand in the Dak Prescott contract negotiation, the franchise quarterback or the most iconic franchise in professional sports?
Dak Prescott is currently an unrestricted free agent. Being an unrestricted free agent and playing the quarterback position automatically gives Dak Prescott a substantial amount of leverage. There will be many teams willing to pay top dollar to secure his services. There are other options out there as well such as Philip Rivers, Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Tannehill, or possibly Tom Brady. Unfortunately, those guys won’t come at a much cheaper price and many are well beyond their best years while Dak’s best years should be ahead of him. There are also some QB’s available in the draft but that will only eliminate a couple of teams from contention. Regardless of how those domino’s fall, Dak Prescott is going to demand a lot of money on the open market.
Some have suggested that the Cowboys could trade Dak Prescott for draft picks but in order to trade him he would have to sign and agree to the franchise tag tender. It is not likely that Dak Prescott would be foolish enough to do that. By refusing to sign the franchise tag, he nullifies the option for the Dallas Cowboys to trade him. The only advantage of using the franchise tag would be to buy more time to negotiate a long term deal but this would also cripple the Cowboys ability to use the franchise tag on another unsigned free agent such as Amari Cooper, Byron Jones, Randall Cobb, or Robert Quinn. Getting the deal done before the franchise tag deadline is advantageous for both parties but more so for the Dallas Cowboys who have other contracts to negotiate as well.
There are others who are of the opinion that if a reasonable deal cannot be reached, the Dallas Cowboys should let Dak Prescott test the free agent market. This is not something I believe the Dallas Cowboys are willing to do. Letting Prescott hit the open market would only increase his price and the Cowboys would risk losing him to another team. Clearly when the Dallas Cowboys hired Mike McCarthy they showed that they believe this team is ready to win now and Dak Prescott is a huge part of that belief. Only a team wanting to completely rebuild would consider giving up on their young franchise quarterback. As for adding Tom Brady or Philip Rivers, those guys will not take any discounts either and you may only get one or maybe two years out of those guys. The alternative is to gamble on less proven commodities such as Ryan Tannehill or Teddy Bridgewater. Those guys are not upgrades, present substantial risk, and they will not come at a huge discount themselves. It is best to ride it out with the proven, familiar quarterback who already has the respect and admiration of his teammates.
What about the Dallas Cowboys? What leverage do they have? They are a team led by an owner who really wants to win badly. Dak Prescott also wants to win badly. That is why the argument exists that Dak Prescott should take less so that the Dallas Cowboys can do more in free agency to build a winning team around their quarterback. That makes a lot of sense in theory but much like other ideals, is not applicable in real life. From Dak Prescott’s perspective, the team has been getting him at a bargain for the last 4 years and up until that point have not been able to build a talented enough team around him to win a championship. Furthermore, they were not able to build a championship team around Dak’s predecessor Tony Romo either. What guarantee would Dak have that if he took less money that Jerry Jones could deliver him a Super Bowl? How much less is he expected to take? Is it $2 million, $5 million, $10 million? How are the Dallas Cowboys supposed to build a Super Bowl team with that paltry amount of savings? No, taking a team friendly deal is not in the best interest of the player and in reality it is not in the best interest of his teammates either. That’s right, if one player bites the bullet and takes a team friendly deal it would only encourage ownership to do the same thing with their other players. In reality, the players on the team want other players to get paid more and more as it drives up the going rate for future contracts in an ever increasing salary cap. The players that cash the cheques may be rich, but the ownership that writes the cheques are making more and more money every year off of the blood, sweat, and tears of the players.
Further to the “team friendly” argument, an interesting point has been made regarding the marketability of the Dallas Cowboys. They are “America’s Team” and therefore the most iconic and well know franchise in professional sports. There is a large contingent of people that hold the opinion that Dak Prescott should take less money in order to stay with the Dallas Cowboys because being the face of that franchise allows for more opportunities for endorsements and supplemental income. This may hold true as Dak Prescott himself has taken advantage of his popularity by landing multiple endorsement deals during his 4 year career with the Dallas Cowboys. The problem with this argument is that it fails to take into consideration that endorsement deals are not a viable or sustainable source of income. An injury, poor performance, or even a minor scandal could result in the loss of an endorsement deal entirely and abruptly. Just ask Cam Newton how saying the wrong thing at the wrong time cost him millions of dollars from his sponsors. If Dak Prescott signed a team friendly deal then lost out on all that additional advertising money for any of those reasons he would have no recourse. However, by signing a long term contract with a guaranteed portion, he is protected in the event of injury, poor performance, or if ownership decides to change their mind in the future. For Dak Prescott, he needs to secure his well earned long term contract extension, then worry about endorsement deals once that is in place.
The final point on this contract negotiation is that people keep forgetting that their are three parties involved here; The player, the team, and the agent. Do not forget that Dak Prescott hired an agent to negotiate his contract for him. Dak’s agent has a responsibility to get his client the most money possible and he receives a commission based on a percentage of that contract. Dak’s agent also has an interest in getting his client the best possible deal in order to maintain his reputation and by doing so, continue to attract new clients. I would imagine that Todd France would not allow Dak Prescott to sign a “team friendly deal” as a function of the job he was hired to do.
To answer the question “Who has the most leverage in the Dak Prescott contract negotiation?” all of the variables point to a distinct advantage for one party. Dak Prescott is a viable franchise quarterback who is a free agent. Dak Prescott has been the consummate professional and played out his existing contract far exceeding the expectations for a 4th round draft pick. The Dallas Cowboys want Dak Prescott to be their quarterback now and for the future and they hired a new coach believing that with this QB, the team is a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The team is well aware that changing quarterbacks would be an incredibly risky move if they are hoping for immediate success. Dak Prescott is the first and most significant domino to fall for the Dallas Cowboys to address their long list of current unrestricted free agents on their roster. Getting that deal done would allow the team to start addressing their other needs earlier. The Dallas Cowboys have no option to trade Dak Prescott and do not have a viable replacement on their current roster. The salary cap is going to increase again this season and will continue to rise substantially over the next few years. Other young quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson are on the verge of contract extensions which will only inflate the QB market beyond the $40 million/year range. Clearly, all of the evidence suggests that it is Dak Prescott and NOT the Dallas Cowboys who has all the leverage in this contract negotiation. I fully expect the Dallas Cowboys to cave to Dak’s demands and to do so without resorting to having to use the franchise tag. March 10th is the deadline for teams to use the franchise tage and is a date that many Dallas Cowboys fans will have marked down on their calendars as D-Day or “Dak Prescott Decision Day.” Stay tuned to see how this one plays out.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso All-Pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode