Dak Prescott was walking with a slight limp while going into the locker room

[Swagger]

We don't just have Dak (CD, Diggs, Bland paid). You keep going backwards.....let's go forward since Dak has his contract, Sam on his 5th team, Baker is ballin' and Micah in GB. Now what. How would you fix the issues now? I need a Board GM and Salary Capologist to handle the current plight, not rehash opinion.

How would I fix the issues from this point?
I would trade CD Lamb if I could get ideally two 1sts but I would consider a 1st and a 2nd depending on the team. If Lamb leaves I would keep Pickens and offer him a long term contract. I would keep Williams and offer him a deal now, get him tied up longer term.
I would draft a quarterback in the first round in 2026 meaning next season would be the last with Dak Prescott. It's unfortunate they paid him the last contract as they could have got out from under him without having to pay him a load in the future but other teams have got around this and won Superbowls (Eagles when moving on Wentz and the Rams moving on Goff).
The team will have a load of draft picks to improve the defense and gradually more money to invest in free agency once Dak's contract is off the books.

Yet I expect the front office to double down, restructure and give Dak another huge contract in 2026 which will be even more devastating for the teams' chances going forwards.

 

[Cmac]

If Dak was being paid the same as a Mayfield or Darnold then whilst I would still prefer a better quarterback, I wouldn't have too much of an issue as the defense could have far more resources allocated to it. The reality is most teams will have handed out bad contracts to players who subsequently do not produce what they are paid but it's the quarterback contract which a team really can't get wrong due to how much they are paid.

With that take.............Jerry has sold you beachfront property in Wyoming. I'd wonder why Dak couldn't be paid like Tua or Trevor Lawrence....neither QB's money is being threatened....to please you, that would be a $5M reduction. As for Darnold and Baker, been well traveled, resurging, and money is going to come up again for them, one way or the other. You may want to look at Geno Smith and possibly consider him too, after Week 11. Geno or Brock Bowers will be Player of the Week if we see what we say against the Cards.

 

[Swagger]

With that take.............Jerry has sold you beachfront property in Wyoming. I'd wonder why Dak couldn't be paid like Tua or Trevor Lawrence....neither QB's money is being threatened....to please you, that would be a $5M reduction. As for Darnold and Baker, been well traveled, resurging, and money is going to come up again for them, one way or the other. You may want to look at Geno Smith and possibly consider him too, after Week 11. Geno or Brock Bowers will be Player of the Week if we see what we say against the Cards.

Tua was a bad decision by the Dolphins and look at the state of them. A quarterback like Lawrence being drafted first of all will always be given more time (rightly or wrongly) than other quarterbacks due to the draft capital invested in him. Jaguars have played pretty well this season including a win over the chiefs - of course, Lawrence needs to play better but at least they are winning games so he must be doing something right in that offense.
Once a Darnold or Baker need to be paid 3 years down the line they might take a bit of hometown discount if they are playing well, loving life at Dallas or you move them on and bring in the next Darnold or Baker if you are going down the vet route - it's all about getting value out of the quarterback contract whether that's riding a rookie or paying a good vet a fair salary, not an inflated one.

 

[TwentyOne]

Limp Bizkuit he is anyways. So why shouldnt he.

No worries. He is in the best shape of his life. At least thats what hes gonna tell you. Regardless wether you even want to know.

Losers limp. Winners dont talk they take home the prom queen.

 

[Swagger]

Dak had good teams in 2022 and especially 2023 which was a Superbowl calibre team and I think 2022 was as well even though not as good. Dak was only sacked once in the 2023 play off game vs the 49ers (Purdy was sacked twice by way of comparison) and the offense only had to put up 20 points to win and it wasn't in awful weather. Dak turned the ball over twice whilst Burdy didn't do much but he didn't lose the game in throwing interceptions. Dak also underperformed the year before in 2022. My view is that a better quarterback (didn't need to be elite) wins at least one of those games.

That's why I'm out on Dak. He has had his chances on good teams yet he was unable to get it done. No shame in that but it's time to move on.

 

[thunderpimp91]

May want to look closer....there is something called restructure for Dak, probably CD ....just to name those two. Now Mac Jones?.......are you just going to dismiss Mac Jones' team's defense, in comparison to ours and SF payroll too? Dak's money that bothersome?

No I'm not dismissing any of that, its why I think its crucial to highlight what could be done with that money elsewhere. Yes you can restructure players, but how much money do you want to push into the future of a 35+ year old QB? Also the Cowboy did restructure Daks deal this past offseason which is why his cap hit is "only" $50M for 2025. He is set up for a $74m cap hit next year so a restructure is still going to keep him at $50+m.

This isnt a Dak is good or Dak is bad thing. My entire argument is that we overrate the QB position. Even Mahomes heavily rode the back of his defense the last two super bowl appearances. Last year the wins and losses were basically the same with Dak or Rush under center. Why? Because the team around them played at a higher level once Dak went down for the year. Joe Flacco looks like he should have retired playing with Cleveland this year. Give him Chase/Higgens to throw to and hes putting up 450+ yard games. Having a higher end QB is great, but this team has 3 wins on the year so it makes it really tough to suggest that Dak is irreplaceable.

Go look up the top 15 QB salaries and tell me how many of those guys are on teams even over 500. Maybe half? The money is very bothersome because teams are shooting themselves in the foot with these massive QB contracts.

 

[BoysForLife]

Everyone can see how badly the defense is performing. But perhaps you don't see my point. If the team committed it's resources even slightly more evenly to the defense then it would improve but the offense seems to need the lion share of resources to just keep Dak afloat which shouldn't be the case for the most expensive player in NFL history.

 

[Captain-Crash]

was that a pity limp, "look at me, I'm hurt".

 

[BoysForLife]

Why would I want Cooper Rush to return? He has shown that he's just a practice squad quarterback at the Ravens yet the Cowboys won more games with him starting than Prescott during at least one of the seasons he was called upon albeit from a relatively small sample size. What does that tell you about the importance of Prescott to the team if a bad NFL quarterback like Rush is producing similar results to him? The answer is that he is not worth paying $231 million in guaranteed money and kneecapping the team over the foreseeable future.
The problems start at the front office but one of the biggest issues is them having paid the aforementioned contract to Prescott which just results in other issues snowballing from it as a result.

This is such an important point

The same people who blame all of the Cowboys failures on the front office and constantly talk about how they can't properly evaluate talent and overpay washed losers, then in the next breath they defend Jerry paying Dak and act like this was a great decision and Jerry has given us this generational franchise qb

Which is it guys? If Jerry's this moron who always screws things up (I agree with that assessment) and acquires marginal talent then how is his choice as franchise qb defensible? Did he somehow all of a sudden develop great football instincts on decisions to keep and pay Dak?

Hogwash

 

[Cmac]

Tua was a bad decision by the Dolphins and look at the state of them. A quarterback like Lawrence being drafted first of all will always be given more time (rightly or wrongly) than other quarterbacks due to the draft capital invested in him. Jaguars have played pretty well this season including a win over the chiefs - of course, Lawrence needs to play better but at least they are winning games so he must be doing something right in that offense.
Once a Darnold or Baker need to be paid 3 years down the line they might take a bit of hometown discount if they are playing well, loving life at Dallas or you move them on and bring in the next Darnold or Baker if you are going down the vet route - it's all about getting value out of the quarterback contract whether that's riding a rookie or paying a good vet a fair salary, not an inflated one.

Swagger.......you were going good until "hometown discount". Darnold nor Baker don't owe anyone that......it's nice and generous, but why must the player (when market value) can dictate the salary for you? This game can change quickly for one's plight.....currently Jayden Daniels (Rookie contract and rumblings will be he is injury prone), or worst case.....the Commanders say we can trust such an investment given injury history. Darnold and Baker went through tough times but have rebounded. Minny turned on Darnold because of the two bad games last year. As for being paid.....Tua, Herbert, and Lawrence never told their franchise "a hometown discount is ok" or "that's too much pay for me."

As for my stance.....I'm always for a player getting his worth or market value. Got no problem with Micah getting his, only the way it transpired. Game is too violent, not to take the money.

 

[Captain-Crash]

"get that money boi" you can only screw the team for so long.

 

[ArtClink]

Good. Shut him down for the season.

Cut him in the off season.

You do acknowledge we would be 0-9 without Dak, right?

 

[Swagger]

Swagger.......you were going good until "hometown discount". Darnold nor Baker don't owe anyone that......it's nice and generous, but why must the player (when market value) can dictate the salary for you? This game can change quickly for one's plight.....currently Jayden Daniels (Rookie contract and rumblings will be he is injury prone), or worst case.....the Commanders say we can trust such an investment given injury history. Darnold and Baker went through tough times but have rebounded. Minny turned on Darnold because of the two bad games last year. As for being paid.....Tua, Herbert, and Lawrence never told their franchise "a hometown discount is ok" or "that's too much pay for me."

As for my stance.....I'm always for a player getting his worth or market value. Got no problem with Micah getting his, only the way it transpired. Game is too violent, not to take the money.

The player does not need to take a home town discount but they might choose to if they are loving their working environment e.g., what could Josh Allen have got on the open market - circa $70 million a year? Yet he effectively accepted $55 million a year on a 6 year extension which is a bargain given Dak is on $60 million a year and on a shorter contract.

I have no issues with players being paid market value but that's exactly my point - Dak Prescott is not worth $60 million a year! That is not his market value. It was a terrible decision by the front office like it was by the Dolphins to resign Tua.

I stated that if Darnold and Baker went all Dak and wanted to be paid like an elite quarterback then you move them on and bring in the next competent vet QB on a fair contract at market value if you are going down that route or you start the rookie QB if one has been drafted with the intention to start at the point of the vet's contracts having expired.

 

[Swagger]

Swagger.......you were going good until "hometown discount". Darnold nor Baker don't owe anyone that......it's nice and generous, but why must the player (when market value) can dictate the salary for you? This game can change quickly for one's plight.....currently Jayden Daniels (Rookie contract and rumblings will be he is injury prone), or worst case.....the Commanders say we can trust such an investment given injury history. Darnold and Baker went through tough times but have rebounded. Minny turned on Darnold because of the two bad games last year. As for being paid.....Tua, Herbert, and Lawrence never told their franchise "a hometown discount is ok" or "that's too much pay for me."

As for my stance.....I'm always for a player getting his worth or market value. Got no problem with Micah getting his, only the way it transpired. Game is too violent, not to take the money.

I have clearly explained my points to which you may or may not agree.

I do not know what you would do - what would be your masterplan?

 

[Captain-Crash]

You do acknowledge we would be 0-9 without Dak, right?

Man, I still laugh thinking about when Dak got hurt and everybody jumped ship — then Rush came in and started stacking W’s! Now y’all mad at him for winning when Dak couldn’t! You can’t spell “Rush Hour” without “W!”.

 

[cowboys5xsbs]

Man, I still laugh thinking about when Dak got hurt and everybody jumped ship — then Rush came in and started stacking W’s! Now y’all mad at him for winning when Dak couldn’t! You can’t spell “Rush Hour” without “W!”.

How many games did Rush win this year or did he get benched for snoop. You need to let it go Rush sucked.

 

[Captain-Crash]

How many games did Rush win this year or did he get benched for snoop. You need to let it go Rush sucked.

Rush was on a different team this year — one that wasn’t exactly built to carry the QB. You put Dak on that same roster and he’d be asking for GPS directions to the end zone too.

 

[Swagger]

Based on the previous seasons Rush started at quarterback, at the very worst the Cowboys would be 2-7 with him as a starter - Washington didn't have any healthy receivers and injuries on defense (just got blown out by Darnold and the Seahawks) and have the Jets won a game yet? I can't remember but even with Rush the Cowboys win those games and who knows the team might have raised their level against one or more of the Giants, Cardinals, Bears or Panthers and won another game meaning the team would have won 3 games exactly the same as with Prescott which would be consistent with previous seasons with Dalton and Rush after Dak went down. That's the point that some people do not seem to grasp! Dak Prescott is not the difference maker on the team. He does not push the needle. He isn't like a Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson who essentially win games through their individual play yet he is paid even more than them! Go figure.

 

[BoysForLife]

How many games did Rush win this year or did he get benched for snoop. You need to let it go Rush sucked.

Nobody is acting like Rush is some stud QB

The point of the post is to refute this insane viewpoint that "if Dak can't do it, nobody can and he's literally the only thing keeping this team afloat"

Yet a washed bum like Rush was able to step in and win games at roughly the same pace as the $60 million man in 2 of the past 3 years when Dak missed significant time

Facts don't fit the narrative

We all know Rush is bad.
Many of us know Dak isn't all that. Some of you guys are convinced he all but walks on water. You are the ones who need to let it go

 

[Cmac]

The player does not need to take a home town discount but they might choose to if they are loving their working environment e.g., what could Josh Allen have got on the open market - circa $70 million a year? Yet he effectively accepted $55 million a year on a 6 year extension which is a bargain given Dak is on $60 million a year and on a shorter contract.

I have no issues with players being paid market value but that's exactly my point - Dak Prescott is not worth $60 million a year! That is not his market value. It was a terrible decision by the front office like it was by the Dolphins to resign Tua.

I stated that if Darnold and Baker went all Dak and wanted to be paid like an elite quarterback then you move them on and bring in the next competent vet QB on a fair contract at market value if you are going down that route or you start the rookie QB if one has been drafted with the intention to start at the point of the vet's contracts having expired.

Then Swagger......what do you expect or want the Front Office to do that would make you happy?