Many regarded the Dallas Cowboys to be real Super Bowl candidates, and quarterback Dak Prescott was a key factor in their 2023 success.
Despite the early playoff defeat, Prescott is coming off one of his best NFL seasons, and the connection on offense with Mike McCarthy directing plays, the starting signal caller, and CeeDee Lamb establishing himself as a legitimate No. 1 WR has been encouraging to see.
While history has proven that the Dallas Cowboys and Prescott have struggled in the postseason, making the playoffs five of the last seven years but never progressing past the Divisional Round to the NFC Championship game, Jerry Jones and his team have previously remained by their quarterback.
Dak Prescott concluded the 2023 season ranked in the top five in several major NFL quarterback statistics, and he was the favorite for MVP for the most of the season. He enters Sunday’s crucial Wilcard Round game against the Green Bay Packers with 4,516 yards (3rd), 36 touchdowns (1st), 9 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 72.5 (2nd).
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys’ brass are again in an all-too familiar position. With Prescott nearing the end of his last major contract extension, Dallas must either sign him to a new long-term deal to help free up cap space for 2024, or release him after June 1, which would save nearly $30 million on next year’s cap number but result in a massive chunk of change in dead money owed to the once-hopeful franchise quarterback.
The salary cap site OverTheCap.com’s writer Jason Fitzgerald also highlighted the possibility of cutting Prescott, writing, “If for some odd reason the Cowboys decided to cut Dak Prescott they could, but it would be costly. If he is dismissed before the roster bonus, the Cowboys will incur $61.915 million in salary cap charges. If it came down to it, Dallas would probably go with Prescott on June 1.
In a way, the Cowboys have painted themselves into a position with Dak Prescott. He has a no-trade clause in his contract, thus he can’t be traded. They owe him $59 million in 2024, giving him a lot of negotiating power—at worst, he can walk away from the table and the Cowboys will have to pay him that amount. Again, a cut is unlikely in this case.
There’s basically no other logical option except to grant him a contract extension as soon as possible, in order to free up his hefty cap hit for 2024. Prescott is expected to make approximately $57 million per year, and Dallas is likely to pay him, according to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport.
“The Dallas Cowboys have a real actual deadline for Dak Prescott as they begin work on his contract extension that should make him once again one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL,” Rapoport wrote on the day of the Super Bowl.
“He has a nearly $60 million cap number next season, and the Cowboys will want to go into free agency, have maneuverability, and be able to sign guys, and the only way to accomplish that is to lower that salary number. That’s why the idea is the Cowboys will make a deal, in some shape or another, with Prescott before free agency, as he can virtually not be franchise tagged after the season entering the final year ofSo a bargain must be struck for Dallas.”
At this point, it’s evident that the Cowboys will go wherever Prescott takes them.
