MMQB: How Cowboys’ Dak Prescott Can Benefit From Waiting to Negotiate His Contract

Plankton

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https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/08/20/dak-prescott-cowboys-contract-antonio-brown-raiders-helmet

Dak Prescott may soon receive a contract extension, bringing him life-changing wealth and securing him to the Cowboys for bulk of his prime years of his career. However, if Prescott and his agent desire a truly groundbreaking contract (as reports have indicated), they won’t get one anytime soon. That would only come at the earliest next year when Prescott would be negotiating off of a franchise tag, not a rookie contract. The question is…can he wait?

Last week the spin-doctors on each side of the negotiation were in full throat, debating whether Prescott had turned down a contract worth $30 million a year and was asking/requesting/demanding $40 million a year. Even though this is a good example of teams and agents using the media to advance their agendas, this contract is a tough one to negotiate, especially from Prescott’s side.

Scheduled to only make $2 million in 2019, Prescott’s situation is similar to that of Russell Wilson earlier in the decade: a mid-round draft pick starting quarterback stuck on a drastically undervalued rookie contract. Like Wilson before him, Prescott is further disadvantaged than other productive young quarterbacks such as Carson Wentz, Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes, who received first-round level signing bonuses (Prescott’s signing bonus was $384,000). Due to the nature of the rookie compensation system, the Cowboys have received extraordinary value from Prescott, as the Seahawks did years ago from Wilson, a point that should be a focus point for his negotiations. Alas, however, Jerry and Stephen Jones have dealt with situations like this before, and capitalized.

The Cowboys are now negotiating contracts with their three offensive stars—Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and Amari Cooper—and are playing the “we only have so much cap room” card. Left unsaid by the team is how they have preyed on the rookie compensation system with all three players, being on the plus side of inequitable contracts for multiple years. Now they are playing the cap card while conveniently not mentioning the team-friendly nature of the past.

Knowing he is staring at a remaining compensation of $2 million, the Cowboys will float a signing bonus of $25-30 million in front of Prescott with a team-friendly deal attached to it. That enticement will be tough for Prescott to turn down, like it would be for any young player, and he may well make a deal.
 

TheMarathonContinues

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If he’s unwilling to play on a reasonable deal, I’m perfectly content in letting him play out his deal and tagging him for two years. It saves the team a TON of both money and risk.
It does but then you all of a sudden don't have a franchise tag to negotiate with.
Prescott has also ‘received a lot of value’ by starting for America’s Team in the form of endorsements. He wouldn’t have gave of those if he were starting for most other teams

He has. But it goes both ways. Dak bailed out the Cowboys because once again they had no plan for life without Romo. Their plan was to draft Paxton Lynch and allegedly Connor Cook. Two bums. So it goes both ways. Dak benefits from playing with the star on his helmet but the Cowboys benefited heavily from him being one of the worst paid players in the league and actually contributing and saving them from another post-Aikman mess.
 

GhostOfPelluer

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Unless one has a change of heart, we're going to have to cave on either Dak or Amari if we want to keep them both.
 

glimmerman

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He is gonna be our franchise QB. The FO says so. Not us. It’s not up to us. Now if he don’t take our deal then maybe JJ let’s him play out this year. He uses the money this year and signed Jaylon. If Elliot wasn’t holding out then he may have gotten paid. If Cooper wants to play ball he may get his contract early.
 

glimmerman

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Prescott has also ‘received a lot of value’ by starting for America’s Team in the form of endorsements. He wouldn’t have gave of those if he were starting for most other teams
Apparently that don’t count in the contracts. It’s just bonus money. He still wants that 35 mil. It’s a joke to think you deserve or your worth is more than someone that has had more success and just reset the market.
 

TheMarathonContinues

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If I have control of my quarterback I’m not concerned.

Well......if you're playing the franchise tag game with him then you can argue that you don't really have your quarterback lol. If you have your quarterback you're not playing that franchise tag game and I honestly don't even recall the Cowboys ever doing that. Seems like in recent memory they've used the franchise tag to extend their negotiations.
 

TheMarathonContinues

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Apparently that don’t count in the contracts. It’s just bonus money. He still wants that 35 mil. It’s a joke to think you deserve or your worth is more than someone that has had more success and just reset the market.
Your worth is whatever someone is willing to pay you. Why would he not want 35 or 40million if someone wants to give it to him? Who goes into negotiations and lowballs themselves?
 

Outlaw Heroes

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Dak might benefit by playing the waiting game. He also might shoot himself in the foot. Getting paid sooner than later removes risk. And that costs money because risk gets compensated. If the Cowboys are prepared to take the risk off of his hands it should only be at a team friendly cost.
 

TheMarathonContinues

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Dak might benefit by playing the waiting game. He also might shoot himself in the foot. Getting paid sooner than later removes risk. And that costs money because risk gets compensated. If the Cowboys are prepared to take the risk off of his hands it should only be at a team friendly cost.
I don't think the risk is terrible though. Him waiting out benefits him more than the Cowboys. For instance let's say he gets hurt this season........How much lower would he go in salary? He'd still sign a 28-30 million dollar deal. But on the opposite end of the coin.......what happens if he has a MVP-caliber season stats wise? He will make even more money.

If the Cowboys believe in Dak they should be getting in front of a deal for him like Eagles did for Wentz.
 

Stash

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Well......if you're playing the franchise tag game with him then you can argue that you don't really have your quarterback lol.

The point is that he's not going anywhere.

If you have your quarterback you're not playing that franchise tag game and I honestly don't even recall the Cowboys ever doing that. Seems like in recent memory they've used the franchise tag to extend their negotiations.

Past history doesn't indicate what they can or will do here.
 

glimmerman

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Your worth is whatever someone is willing to pay you. Why would he not want 35 or 40million if someone wants to give it to him? Who goes into negotiations and lowballs themselves?
35 is over doing it. But it’s the agents that start
crazy high.
 

visionary

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He has. But it goes both ways. Dak bailed out the Cowboys because once again they had no plan for life without Romo. Their plan was to draft Paxton Lynch and allegedly Connor Cook. Two bums. So it goes both ways. Dak benefits from playing with the star on his helmet but the Cowboys benefited heavily from him being one of the worst paid players in the league and actually contributing and saving them from another post-Aikman mess.

Agree but the article didn’t say that. It only mentioned that the cowboys had obtained a lot of value from Prescott and that should factor in the negotiations
 
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