Why Cowboys Cap Number on Dak is $26.824M - And Why It's About To Change

Let's Remove The Shroud of NFL Mystery Here: Why the Dallas Cowboys Cap Number on QB Dak Prescott is $26.824 Million - And Why It's About To Change

FRISCO - As CowboysSI.com reported on Wednesday afternoon, the Dallas Cowboys have returned to the negotiating table with Dak Prescott - a session featuring "movement'' and what we believe is a new exchange of offers from the involved parties.

Prescott, the Cowboys QB, is presently subject to the exclusive franchise tag, which was placed on him on March 18 - which is also the last time, sources tell us, the two sides engaged in serious communication.

Where are we heading? The Cowboys and agent Todd France of CAA are largely "debating years,'' we're told - Dallas preferring the longer-term five-year deal, Prescott preferring a four-year contract. The other numbers? As noted on Wednesday, we're likely 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 why do reports about it seem to shroud it in mystery?

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.'' (It's so "secret'' that there it is, right atop the page at OvertheCap.com.)

That number, however, will change when more quarterbacks' deals become official - and if Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City soon come to an agreement that some think might pay the young MVP upwards of $43 mil APY? Up, up, up that average goes.

But even at this moment, without Mahomes but 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 is, as owner Jerry Jones would put it, "fungible.'' It's 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 at what we bet is close to $30 mil) ... nor, of course indicative of what Dallas plans to pay him in a long-term deal.

But "$26,824,000'' comes 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 re-igniting talks on Wednesday, and part of the optimism that goes with that re-ignition. And those are the numbers that make it all happen ... minus the mystery.