Dak Prescott Potentially to be Signed as 'A Cowboy for Life'
With Dak Prescott's salary cap at $49 million and $52 million for 2023 and 2024, the Cowboys need to decide now where to cap his extension so that there's room for other players.
Previously having a $160 million four-year deal, he's already promised a raise, but at what cost for the rest of the team?
Team owner Jerry Jones is aware that to continue keeping Prescott, the price of his play will only go up. During his 4-year deal of $160 million, Prescott threw 36 touchdown passes to 22 interceptions in the past three years.
This type of performance has Cowboys fans and the NFL wondering why his salary continues to grow, and why the Cowboys continue to keep him.
Last week, at the NFL combine, Jones basically blamed Prescott's contract for holes on the roster. If Prescott's going to continue to play how he does, then Jones needs to be responsible for the protection of his quarterback.
“We want to get all the help around him, but … when you have a competitive-paid quarterback in the NFL, then you’re not going to be able to get the most skill around,” Jones said. “You’re going to have to pick your spots, and you’re going to be a little slower one year than the next …”
As a result of Jones' strategy, the Cowboys started the 2022 season with a smaller roster than they began with in 2021. Prescott's growing salary essentially has an inverse affect on the team's roster.
Jones' excuse for his ideology has to do with Prescott's NFL experience. A potential theory behind Jones' actions may be that he wants to turn a rookie into a star. Prescott has only been in the NFL for two contracts, so the idea that a coach is trying to build a star quarterback may be the desired result.
“Well, when you do what you do today and invest in a quarterback the way you do with these premium quarterbacks, that automatically has to be diminished,” Jones said. “And so, when you ask me the supporting cast around him, it’ll be hard to get to a supporting cast the way he did when he started his career.”
“You can’t pay that position at that level, take that much of the available dollars and then put the exact thing around him,” Jones said. “When Dak first got here, we had one of the best offensive lines, in my mind, that had been put on the field in a long time. And he had that. So we had skill around him, especially offensively.”
These statements have to leave people wondering what happened to the offensive line and if Jones has any intention at all of rebuilding it. Since the Cowboys have the 26th pick in the first round of 2023 NFL draft, there will be plenty of talented offensive linemen up for grabs.
However, Jones has made it sound as if he has no interest in filling the roster holes, and instead, putting all his hopes that Prescott will become a better player. However, if there's no good players be paid to protect Prescott, then the possibility of serious injury could easily end Prescott's career.
The best thing Jones can do right now is to sign someone. There are currently plenty of players available, however Jones' faith in Prescott will keep him from looking at any other potential additions to the roster.
Moving forward, the Cowboys have now freed up $30 million in cap space between restructuring Prescott's contact and that of right guard Zack Martin.
Prescott is in the midst of his third year of a four-year, $160 million deal. He was set to make $31 million in base salary in 2023 with a $49.13 salary cap figure, second only to Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The quarterback's new cap figure is approximately $27 million and his 2024 cap figure will surpass just over $59 million as a result of the restructure.
