Giving Dak the no trade clause was a huge mistake but I believe they could be in the drivers seat if they man up and it could help with other negotiations in the future.
1 Dak realistically has 5 or 6 years left in his career and one year could make a huge difference in the only category Dak has an opportunity to shine. Stats! Sitting a year could be the difference between retiring as the leader in several categories or dropping down the list.
2. Dallas truly is a better place to play QB than any other. Aikman and Romo would not have the jobs they currently have if they had played for the Jets. Not to mention the current endorsements and status that comes with QB’ing the Cowboys.
3. He truly wants to be here. There is no other team he would rather play for.
Offer him what you believe he is worth. If he declines. Ask him if he would prefer to be traded or to mentor the other QB’s on the roster and make him the highest paid clipboard holder in the history of the NFL. If he decides to sign do not give him another no trade clause.
Do you want to be the highest paid player in NFL history or do you want to be a champion? If the answer is the prior you’re going to have to do it elsewhere.
That plan would backfire. Even if it did sorta work on Dak, every NFL player and agent would see that and know if they're willing to do that to their QB then they're willing to do that to any player. It would be that much harder to retain players or attract FAs, not that Jerry is ever serious about acquiring them.
I don't blame Dak for this situation, I blame Jerry he waited until the 11th hour to get the original deal done, giving more power to the player and Jerry keeps making the same mistake over and over again. Players want to get paid, it's human nature, it's up to the FO to plan in advance how to make deals without leveraging the team, other teams have to go through the same thing, instead waiting until the last minute.
This cap hit thing is nonsense, it's up to the FO not the players to manage the cap. Does anybody truly believe, even if we had a bunch of cap space that Jerry would actually seek out big name FAs or be serious about signing more talent? It's not Dak's contract or cap hit that inhibits going after more talent, it's the FO philosophy that holds this team back. It's not Dak or his contract holding this team back, it's Jerry, it's always been Jerry and will continue to be Jerry holding this team back.