According to his deal, Dak Prescott will play for the Cowboys for a number of further years.

It seems there was some doubt as to whether head coach Mike McCarthy would return to the Cowboys. They will without a doubt welcome back quarterback Dak Prescott.

It is unrelated to his play, which was excellent in the regular season but insufficient in the playoff defeat to the Packers. It is entirely related to his contract.

Rather of wearing the second franchise tag, Prescott signed a four-year contract, which he is now entering its last year of. He was franchise-tagged for the first time when his four-year rookie contract expired, and he reached the second tag because the Cowboys declined to renew his rookie contract after three years.

He was in a powerful position in the beginning of 2021. With it, he took exactly the same action that team owner Jerry Jones has used whenever he has had significant influence throughout his life.

He used it to his fullest advantage.

Prescott’s cap figure will thus soar from $26.832 million in 2023 to $59.455 million on opening day of the 2024 league year. To avoid paying the hefty cap charge, the Cowboys are forced to extend his contract before then.

Prescott has a lot of power once more because of the circumstances. How is he going to act?

What would Jerry do, then?

Prescott will surely walk away from the talks with another agreement at market value. In a sense, he can set his own price. The predicament stems directly from Jones’s obstinacy and thrift following the 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively.

The Cowboys signed Dak to a four-year, $160 million contract when they decided to forego having him play under the franchise tag for a second year and allow Kirk Cousins to enter unrestricted free agency in early 2022. This meant that they would eventually have to sign Dak to another deal, ideally after 2022 (which didn’t happen, despite the Cowboys’ wishes), but at the very least before the $59.4 million cap charge takes effect on March 13.

He can’t be traded by the Cowboys. Even though he is only projected to make $34 million in 2024, a deal made before June 1st would result in a $61.9 million cap hit. If you cut him before June 1st, 2024’s dead money total would remain the same.

The Cowboys are unable to tag him in 2025 due to the terms and structure of the agreement, which goes beyond the leverage provided by the $59.4 million limit amount for 2024. (Even if they could, the Cowboys applied a second franchise tag before he signed his agreement, so the cap number would be 144 percent of his 2024 cap number, or $85.5 million.) If there is no renewal, he will become an unrestricted free agency in March of next year.

Furthermore, they will still be responsible for $36.46 million in dead money from the contract the following year, even if they choose to deal with the $59.4 million cap figure and allow him to become a free agency in March 2025. That exceeds the $35 million that Tom Brady left the Buccaneers this season.

In short, the Cowboys are doomed. Dak is aware of it. Three years ago, he realized it and took the same action that Jerry would have. Why wouldn’t Dak follow Jerry’s example this year?

Thankfully, Dak performed well enough in 2023 for the Cowboys to deserve a big contract. For instance, it would have appeared highly strange if they had offered him a $55 million contract year.