Cowboys Tag Guarantee For Dak Prescott Jumps to $31.409M

As Predicted Among A Lot of Fake Mystery: The NFL-Mandated Dallas Cowboys Tag Guarantee For QB Dak Prescott Just Jumped to $31.409M

FRISCO - As CowboysSI.com explained a month ago, the Dallas Cowboys sort of giggled when it was reported elsewhere that Dak Prescott's exclusive franchise tag number was "$26,824,000.'' ... when it fact, their plan featured the assumption that the one-year guarantee would eventually cost them, as we wrote, "about $31.5 million.''

And now the number is in. It's $31,409,000. 

Good news for #Cowboys QB Dak Prescott: His exclusive franchise tag number was recalculated and it’s now $31.409M, source said. Previously it was $26.824M. The tags are based on 2020 RFA numbers, and they are finalized after the RFA period ends.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 21, 2020

While the Cowboys and agent Todd France of CAA continue to essentially "debate years,'' we're told - Dallas preferring the longer-term five-year deal, Prescott preferring a four-year contract - both sides have always known what the true one-year deal would be.

Eventually, the other numbers will matter very much. CowboysSI.com has reported that Dallas' offer is approaching the $110 million mark in guarantees and the $35 million mark in APY. (Worth adding to the pile here: Jared Goff's 2020 cap hit is $36 mil. Russell Wilson's APY is $35 mil. This is pretty much where the Cowboys negotiations with Dak are going - top of the top. Brace yourself.)

So where does this number of"$26,824,000'' come from? And how did Dallas (and CowboysSI.com) know to figure on something nearer $31.5 million?

 The $26 mil number was simply a placeholder; a national media outlet got hold of that number (maybe from reading OverTheCap) and thought it had a scoop. But ... No mystery here. 

The QB exclusive tag number is reached simply by adding up the top five QB salaries (2020 cap impact) and dividing that number by five. The last calculation performed by the NFL, obviously, caused it to settle in at "$26,824,000.''

What we wrote on March 24:

That number, however, will change when more quarterbacks' deals become official ... But even at this moment ... pending new calculations that include new money shuffling for Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh and for Kirk Cousins in Minnesota, we bet the working tag number for Dak is around $31.5 million.

So "$26,824,000'' is a number that was, as owner Jerry Jones would put it, "fungible.'' It was simply a place-holder, and not indicative at all of what the tag will actually pay Prescott (which, if a new deal isn't reached by July 15 will lock in now at the $31.409 mil number) ... nor, of course indicative of what Dallas plans to pay him in a long-term deal.

But "$26,824,000'' did with an additional value for calculations. Because while it's much lower than the salary Dallas plans on paying in a long-term deal, it's actually higher than what Prescott's 2020 cap impact will be. A new contract spanning four years totaling $140 million (averaging $35 mil APY) would allow the Cowboys to shrink Dak's Year 1 cap impact to maybe under $20 million ... thus allowing Dallas another $7 to $11 mil more in spending money than originally planned.

That's part of the motivation for the Cowboys continuing to talk with France. And those are the numbers that make it all happen ... minus the mystery.