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By Tim Cowlishaw
12:50 PM on Feb 3, 2020
Jimmy Garoppolo was forced to settle for the quarterbacks’ bronze medal as he finished third in most surprising performances during Super Bowl week. Patrick Mahomes captured the gold not only by winning the game’s MVP award but by throwing an uncharacteristic two interceptions and forcing the Chiefs to stage their latest rally of the playoffs.
But Dak Prescott earned the silver medal by not only talking about his lack of a contract but doing it in defiant terms. Among other things, Prescott told The Dallas Morning News’ David Moore “be sure to report” that he won’t be working out anywhere near The Star. This, by Dak’s choirboy standards, was somewhere between a fist in the air and a middle finger to Cowboys management.
“You would hope and you would think something is going to get done, right? I mean, you would have thought something would have gotten done before [last] season," Prescott said.
For a solid year, Prescott has never said more than that he leaves the business of contract talks to his agents. He played out his entire rookie deal in 2019, leaving an approximate $100 million in guaranteed money on the table.
His timing is interesting. Prescott, for the first time, reminded the public that he has the leverage here, not the team. This isn’t like Ezekiel Elliott a year ago. As a first-round pick, Elliott had a fifth-year option on his contract. He was miles away from real free agency. On top of that, he had second-class status as a running back. And the Cowboys caved anyway.
As a fourth-round pick, Prescott’s contract has expired. As the only experienced quarterback on the squad, he possesses all the cards.
The club has a new head coach and an obvious desire to have Prescott leading offseason workouts as the team tries to meld Mike McCarthy’s offensive approach — to this point, entirely different from what Dallas has been running — with Kellen Moore’s play-calling. That coaching change, in itself, adds leverage to Prescott’s case.
There is a March 10 deadline that will come quickly. If the Cowboys and Prescott have not reached a long-term agreement at that date, the Cowboys will franchise him to retain his rights. That will pay Prescott a lot of money but only for one season and it will cause the club to take a roughly $28 million salary cap hit for one player. If Prescott signs a longer, more lucrative deal, the cap hit can be made smaller through the use of bonus money.
“I don’t think any of that’s necessary," Prescott said, when he was asked about the franchise tag. “That’s business. That’s all calculated. That’s all on them."
Again, these are not the kinds of words anyone has heard from him since he arrived four years ago from Mississippi State. The Prescott who spent a few hours serving meals in the Miami Rescue Mission last week is the one with which we are familiar. The one that chides Cowboys management for slow-playing his contract is a new character.
As the Cowboys have no other options at quarterback, Prescott’s leverage increases. And yet this comes at a time when one has to examine exactly where he belongs in the pecking order of young quarterbacks. Mahomes just won a Super Bowl MVP. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson won a league MVP award.
That, as Jason Garrett would say, is line one.
Beyond that, you have Jared Goff who took the Rams to a Super Bowl and the heavily asterisked Carson Wentz who has led the Eagles to three straight playoff trips and a Super Bowl without really doing anything himself in the postseason. Houston’s Deshaun Watson has achieved the same playoff record as Prescott in less time (1-2) and owns a better regular-season win percentage. Garoppolo, slightly older but young in terms of playing time, fits into the bottom of this mix.
Who knows in two years whether Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield, the Jets’ Sam Darnold, the Giants’ Daniel Jones, Washington’s Dwayne Haskins, Arizona’s Kyler Murray or even Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence will have jumped into the discussion of top-five young quarterbacks. By then, Prescott may have reached the midpoint of his career.
It’s funny that some praise him for being second in passing yards in 2019, as if that is some marvelous achievement. They rarely mention that Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston was No. 1. If that is the model, what exactly is the goal here? Leaders in passing yards are simply guys whose teams trailed in the fourth quarter.
For now, Prescott is reminding us — in so many words — that the Cowboys lack other options and that if they want to continue on this offensive course, he will need to be paid among the highest-salaried quarterbacks in the league. It’s no longer about whether he deserves as much or more than Goff or Wentz. It’s that the Joneses have allowed him to play a waiting game in which the money goes only one direction, and a new CBA in 2021 will merely increase the dollars available to the top players in the game.
Perhaps one day Prescott will be at a Super Bowl to do more than hawk his many products. The fact that this week he paused to publicly hawk himself is a reminder to the Cowboys that contract talks, even with good guys, don’t have to stay on friendly terms forever.
12:50 PM on Feb 3, 2020
Jimmy Garoppolo was forced to settle for the quarterbacks’ bronze medal as he finished third in most surprising performances during Super Bowl week. Patrick Mahomes captured the gold not only by winning the game’s MVP award but by throwing an uncharacteristic two interceptions and forcing the Chiefs to stage their latest rally of the playoffs.
But Dak Prescott earned the silver medal by not only talking about his lack of a contract but doing it in defiant terms. Among other things, Prescott told The Dallas Morning News’ David Moore “be sure to report” that he won’t be working out anywhere near The Star. This, by Dak’s choirboy standards, was somewhere between a fist in the air and a middle finger to Cowboys management.
“You would hope and you would think something is going to get done, right? I mean, you would have thought something would have gotten done before [last] season," Prescott said.
For a solid year, Prescott has never said more than that he leaves the business of contract talks to his agents. He played out his entire rookie deal in 2019, leaving an approximate $100 million in guaranteed money on the table.
His timing is interesting. Prescott, for the first time, reminded the public that he has the leverage here, not the team. This isn’t like Ezekiel Elliott a year ago. As a first-round pick, Elliott had a fifth-year option on his contract. He was miles away from real free agency. On top of that, he had second-class status as a running back. And the Cowboys caved anyway.
As a fourth-round pick, Prescott’s contract has expired. As the only experienced quarterback on the squad, he possesses all the cards.
The club has a new head coach and an obvious desire to have Prescott leading offseason workouts as the team tries to meld Mike McCarthy’s offensive approach — to this point, entirely different from what Dallas has been running — with Kellen Moore’s play-calling. That coaching change, in itself, adds leverage to Prescott’s case.
There is a March 10 deadline that will come quickly. If the Cowboys and Prescott have not reached a long-term agreement at that date, the Cowboys will franchise him to retain his rights. That will pay Prescott a lot of money but only for one season and it will cause the club to take a roughly $28 million salary cap hit for one player. If Prescott signs a longer, more lucrative deal, the cap hit can be made smaller through the use of bonus money.
“I don’t think any of that’s necessary," Prescott said, when he was asked about the franchise tag. “That’s business. That’s all calculated. That’s all on them."
Again, these are not the kinds of words anyone has heard from him since he arrived four years ago from Mississippi State. The Prescott who spent a few hours serving meals in the Miami Rescue Mission last week is the one with which we are familiar. The one that chides Cowboys management for slow-playing his contract is a new character.
As the Cowboys have no other options at quarterback, Prescott’s leverage increases. And yet this comes at a time when one has to examine exactly where he belongs in the pecking order of young quarterbacks. Mahomes just won a Super Bowl MVP. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson won a league MVP award.
That, as Jason Garrett would say, is line one.
Beyond that, you have Jared Goff who took the Rams to a Super Bowl and the heavily asterisked Carson Wentz who has led the Eagles to three straight playoff trips and a Super Bowl without really doing anything himself in the postseason. Houston’s Deshaun Watson has achieved the same playoff record as Prescott in less time (1-2) and owns a better regular-season win percentage. Garoppolo, slightly older but young in terms of playing time, fits into the bottom of this mix.
Who knows in two years whether Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield, the Jets’ Sam Darnold, the Giants’ Daniel Jones, Washington’s Dwayne Haskins, Arizona’s Kyler Murray or even Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence will have jumped into the discussion of top-five young quarterbacks. By then, Prescott may have reached the midpoint of his career.
It’s funny that some praise him for being second in passing yards in 2019, as if that is some marvelous achievement. They rarely mention that Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston was No. 1. If that is the model, what exactly is the goal here? Leaders in passing yards are simply guys whose teams trailed in the fourth quarter.
For now, Prescott is reminding us — in so many words — that the Cowboys lack other options and that if they want to continue on this offensive course, he will need to be paid among the highest-salaried quarterbacks in the league. It’s no longer about whether he deserves as much or more than Goff or Wentz. It’s that the Joneses have allowed him to play a waiting game in which the money goes only one direction, and a new CBA in 2021 will merely increase the dollars available to the top players in the game.
Perhaps one day Prescott will be at a Super Bowl to do more than hawk his many products. The fact that this week he paused to publicly hawk himself is a reminder to the Cowboys that contract talks, even with good guys, don’t have to stay on friendly terms forever.
