National Football League

Dak Prescott's lingering headaches add up to ... $60 million a year?

Updated Jul. 30, 2024 3:21 p.m. ET

Do we need to feel a little sorry for Dak Prescott as the new season rolls ever closer? Headaches aren't fun, and it seems he has a few of them to contend with.

There's no new contract yet, just a year remaining on his Dallas Cowboys deal, mere weeks to NFL liftoff and all those lingering doubts over his postseason record (2-5). There was even one somewhat questionable media assertion this week claiming he's not among the top five QBs in the NFC.

Throw all that into the percolator, stir it around a little, and it could equate to … hmm, how about $60 million a year and an utter obliteration of the present record for the most lucrative contract in league history?

The usual, unique rules apply when it comes to quarterbacks, and Prescott is about to become the ultimate beneficiary of the most incendiary, magnified, supply-squeezed market in sports. The four-year, $160 million commitment he gathered in 2021 was once a bonanza. Now it seems almost quaint.

"Thanks very much Jordan Love," Prescott told reporters this week, after the Green Bay Packers rewarded their 25-year-old signal-caller with a high-mark equaling $55 million as an annual package. "You just made my bag a lot bigger."

OK, he didn't actually say that, but he might as well have.

You thought Love, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa had it good? They did, but Prescott has it better.

Forget about wondering whether he's going to get an absolute truckload of money — spoiler alert, he certainly is, one way or another — perhaps the most pertinent piece of the puzzle is whether it is going to happen in time for the new season.

"It is a decision that has to be made," Super Bowl champion Keyshawn Johnson said, on FS1's "Undisputed." "And that decision is going to be north of both (Love and Tagovailoa). Whether it is with the Cowboys, or another team."

Common sense suggests that this boils down to a matter of when Jerry Jones feels like inking the check. That's the owner's prerogative, but the longer he waits, the pricier it gets, and with it the possibility that Prescott may let his deal run out and hit the open market at the end of the campaign.

For the leverage is all Prescott's. He's 31, which in the modern era of age-defying realities and measures protecting QB's from overt violence, can legitimately be assumed to be the heart of his prime.

How do Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love's deals impact Dak Prescott?

He's coming off a year that saw him throw for 4,516 yards and 36 touchdowns, while securing the runner-up position in league MVP voting, He has a no-trade, no-tag clause in his contract. Given the scarcity of elite QBs, his value in the free agency stakes would be stratospheric. Best believe there'd be some serious takers.

Think of it this way. How many first-rounders would Prescott be worth if a trade became viable? Then consider how many more millions on his contract that'd be worth if that acquiring team didn't have to give them up.

From Prescott's point of view, it might have been nice to slide through summer with the comfort of a deal under his belt, but that blow will have been softened by the cheery convenience of everyone else doing his negotiating work for him.

Fair to compare Dak Prescott to Matthew Stafford?

Love was given a four-year, $220 million extension that included $75 million in singing bonuses. Lawrence was extended to the tune of five years and $275 million by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tagovailoa had to, ahem, settle for $212.4m over four years.

If the Cowboys thought they had any leverage, they don't.

Prescott hasn't had much success in the playoffs, you say? That argument doesn't exist. Maybe it should, but it doesn't. Sure, Love led Green Bay to a postseason win in Dallas, but that was his only playoff victory to date. Lawrence has one, Herbert and Tagovailoa have none.

Want to make a pitch to spend your whole career with one franchise? Discount coming? Not so much, especially not after Prescott delicately stripped any notion of that away, too.

Should Dak Prescott reset the QB market?

"I want to be here," he clarified. "But you look up all the great quarterbacks I watch (that) played for other teams. My point in saying that is, it's not something to fear. That may be a reality for me. One day, it may not be my decision."

A decision is on its way, and it's not all that's coming down the pipeline. A new benchmark in terms of QB pay? Bank on it. A neat little "will they, won't they" storyline to keep us entertained over the coming weeks? This is the Cowboys, so probably.

Prescott as a scorching hot commodity? Yes. When exactly? That's the $60 million ($240 million? $300 million?) question.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX.

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