Dak Prescott contract details and cap ramifications

[doomsday9084]

https://overthecap.com/player/dak-prescott/4848

Cap hit by year:
2024: $45m
2025: $90m
2026: $68m
2027: $62m
2028: $72m
2029: $1.4m (VOID)

First off, I'm glad to see that Dallas didn't handicap themselves in the long term with some massive void year money. The 2025 number has a big chunk of guaranteed salary that could be converted to bonus, making the other numbers bigger.

Even with CeeDee and Dak's deal, Dallas still has $29m in capspace in 2025. Obviously Micah will need to get extended.

The $90m second year cap hit is weird and intentional. When you go through Dallas' cap numbers, they have a ton of guys still on rookie deals in 2025. It sure looks to me like Jerry and Stephen are just trying to "eat" Dak's contract early and then let it be a more manageable hit later on when they need to extend guys like Tyler Smith.

Overall, Cowboys fans should expect the same pattern to continue into the future:
- No big money free agents
- Critical players coming off their rookie deals will be extended
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them
- The roster will be filled with draft picks and vet min free agents

The Dak contract structure doesn't stop any of that either positively (by freeing up room) or negatively (by being too large to swallow).

Other random comments: DLaw, Martin and Cooks are likely gone. Malik Hooker's deal sticks out as a cut candidate. Steele is tough to gauge. At his contract he is a value if he plays well but another year like last year will get him cut. Cowboys can afford Micah, just extend him fast instead of letting the market run up his value. Osa might be one of the young guys they are forced to let go.

 

[egn22]

Nice breakdown. I like posts like this because I’m not a cap or numbers guy

 

[Coogiguy03]

Nice breakdown. I like posts like this because I’m not a cap or numbers guy

Agree and usually by the 2nd paragraph, coog has fell asleep due to too many numbers! The capologist guys on here are great!!!!!

90 million, I wonder how many times we're going to hear about that in the off season/during the season

 

[fivetwos]

https://overthecap.com/player/dak-prescott/4848

Cap hit by year:
2024: $45m
2025: $90m
2026: $68m
2027: $62m
2028: $72m
2029: $1.4m (VOID)

First off, I'm glad to see that Dallas didn't handicap themselves in the long term with some massive void year money. The 2025 number has a big chunk of guaranteed salary that could be converted to bonus, making the other numbers bigger.

Even with CeeDee and Dak's deal, Dallas still has $29m in capspace in 2025. Obviously Micah will need to get extended.

The $90m second year cap hit is weird and intentional. When you go through Dallas' cap numbers, they have a ton of guys still on rookie deals in 2025. It sure looks to me like Jerry and Stephen are just trying to "eat" Dak's contract early and then let it be a more manageable hit later on when they need to extend guys like Tyler Smith.

Overall, Cowboys fans should expect the same pattern to continue into the future:
- No big money free agents
- Critical players coming off their rookie deals will be extended
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them
- The roster will be filled with draft picks and vet min free agents

The Dak contract structure doesn't stop any of that either positively (by freeing up room) or negatively (by being too large to swallow).

Other random comments: DLaw, Martin and Cooks are likely gone. Malik Hooker's deal sticks out as a cut candidate. Steele is tough to gauge. At his contract he is a value if he plays well but another year like last year will get him cut. Cowboys can afford Micah, just extend him fast instead of letting the market run up his value. Osa might be one of the young guys they are forced to let go.

I saw it structured differently elsewhere.

Either way, it’ll change along the way as restructures happen. Obviously beginning with the coming offseason.

Someone posted something where it had 60m in void year dead money in each of 2030 and 2031.

That is all fine, as long as you take your best shots before that bill arrives. Don’t hold back so it isn’t so severe. You won’t contend then, and don’t try.

Nothing wrong with a 2-3 year restock plan at some point….but the previous few years needed to be played correctly.

 

[John813]

4 void years added. Which means they can restructure up to the last year of the real contract and still get 5 years prorated relief from restructuring

 

[Coogiguy03]

4 void years added. Which means they can restructure up to the last year of the real contract and still get 5 years prorated relief from restructuring

so it's an 8 year deal??

 

[Flamma]

https://overthecap.com/player/dak-prescott/4848

Cap hit by year:
2024: $45m
2025: $90m
2026: $68m
2027: $62m
2028: $72m
2029: $1.4m (VOID)

First off, I'm glad to see that Dallas didn't handicap themselves in the long term with some massive void year money. The 2025 number has a big chunk of guaranteed salary that could be converted to bonus, making the other numbers bigger.

Even with CeeDee and Dak's deal, Dallas still has $29m in capspace in 2025. Obviously Micah will need to get extended.

The $90m second year cap hit is weird and intentional. When you go through Dallas' cap numbers, they have a ton of guys still on rookie deals in 2025. It sure looks to me like Jerry and Stephen are just trying to "eat" Dak's contract early and then let it be a more manageable hit later on when they need to extend guys like Tyler Smith.

Overall, Cowboys fans should expect the same pattern to continue into the future:
- No big money free agents
- Critical players coming off their rookie deals will be extended
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them
- The roster will be filled with draft picks and vet min free agents

The Dak contract structure doesn't stop any of that either positively (by freeing up room) or negatively (by being too large to swallow).

Other random comments: DLaw, Martin and Cooks are likely gone. Malik Hooker's deal sticks out as a cut candidate. Steele is tough to gauge. At his contract he is a value if he plays well but another year like last year will get him cut. Cowboys can afford Micah, just extend him fast instead of letting the market run up his value. Osa might be one of the young guys they are forced to let go.

Absolutely spot on. Wish I could give this two likes. Someone that knows what they are talking about. This post explains pretty much what is going on.

 

[DuncanIso]

https://overthecap.com/player/dak-prescott/4848

Cap hit by year:
2024: $45m
2025: $90m
2026: $68m
2027: $62m
2028: $72m
2029: $1.4m (VOID)

First off, I'm glad to see that Dallas didn't handicap themselves in the long term with some massive void year money. The 2025 number has a big chunk of guaranteed salary that could be converted to bonus, making the other numbers bigger.

Even with CeeDee and Dak's deal, Dallas still has $29m in capspace in 2025. Obviously Micah will need to get extended.

The $90m second year cap hit is weird and intentional. When you go through Dallas' cap numbers, they have a ton of guys still on rookie deals in 2025. It sure looks to me like Jerry and Stephen are just trying to "eat" Dak's contract early and then let it be a more manageable hit later on when they need to extend guys like Tyler Smith.

Overall, Cowboys fans should expect the same pattern to continue into the future:
- No big money free agents
- Critical players coming off their rookie deals will be extended
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them
- The roster will be filled with draft picks and vet min free agents

The Dak contract structure doesn't stop any of that either positively (by freeing up room) or negatively (by being too large to swallow).

Other random comments: DLaw, Martin and Cooks are likely gone. Malik Hooker's deal sticks out as a cut candidate. Steele is tough to gauge. At his contract he is a value if he plays well but another year like last year will get him cut. Cowboys can afford Micah, just extend him fast instead of letting the market run up his value. Osa might be one of the young guys they are forced to let go.

We have some UFAs that are gonna walk.

Daks 89M cap hit is brutal.

but Dallas can still escape the deal in 2026 or 2027.

 

[DuncanIso]

I saw it structured differently elsewhere.

Either way, it’ll change along the way as restructures happen. Obviously beginning with the coming offseason.

Someone posted something where it had 60m in void year dead money in each of 2030 and 2031.

That is all fine, as long as you take your best shots before that bill arrives. Don’t hold back so it isn’t so severe. You won’t contend then, and don’t try.

Nothing wrong with a 2-3 year restock plan at some point….but the previous few years needed to be played correctly.

Dak still gonna blow up the playoffs.

throwing GTD money at him still doesn’t change him.

hes Danny White.

 

[Ranching]

https://overthecap.com/player/dak-prescott/4848

Cap hit by year:
2024: $45m
2025: $90m
2026: $68m
2027: $62m
2028: $72m
2029: $1.4m (VOID)

First off, I'm glad to see that Dallas didn't handicap themselves in the long term with some massive void year money. The 2025 number has a big chunk of guaranteed salary that could be converted to bonus, making the other numbers bigger.

Even with CeeDee and Dak's deal, Dallas still has $29m in capspace in 2025. Obviously Micah will need to get extended.

The $90m second year cap hit is weird and intentional. When you go through Dallas' cap numbers, they have a ton of guys still on rookie deals in 2025. It sure looks to me like Jerry and Stephen are just trying to "eat" Dak's contract early and then let it be a more manageable hit later on when they need to extend guys like Tyler Smith.

Overall, Cowboys fans should expect the same pattern to continue into the future:
- No big money free agents
- Critical players coming off their rookie deals will be extended
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them
- The roster will be filled with draft picks and vet min free agents

The Dak contract structure doesn't stop any of that either positively (by freeing up room) or negatively (by being too large to swallow).

Other random comments: DLaw, Martin and Cooks are likely gone. Malik Hooker's deal sticks out as a cut candidate. Steele is tough to gauge. At his contract he is a value if he plays well but another year like last year will get him cut. Cowboys can afford Micah, just extend him fast instead of letting the market run up his value. Osa might be one of the young guys they are forced to let go.

Good stuff....it's not as easy to understand as some may think.
Thanks for the education

 

[DallasInDC]

We have some UFAs that are gonna walk.

Daks 89M cap hit is brutal.

but Dallas can still escape the deal in 2026 or 2027.

As the OP said, The 2025 number was intentional and there us still a lot of cap space left...plus they can roll over monet from this year and still have a few restructure opportunities, including Dak's salary. Considering what the cap will be in 2026-2029, they have a lot of flexibility especially the void years. If they end up restructuring Dak and his dead cap hit in 2029 is $20mm-$30mm (assuming he is on the team in 2028) is nothing compared to where the cap will be.

 

[doomsday9084]

Some other random comments:
- This cap hit includes a rather large chunk of money from his prior deal that would have been on void years. People always talked like that would disappear and it doesn't. You always pay the piper.
- Dak can be cut after 2025 without world ending cap ramifications. I suspect people will eventually notice this and it will become a debate point on this board.

 

[irishline]

- Dak can be cut after 2025 without world ending cap ramifications. I suspect people will eventually notice this and it will become a debate point on this board.

He has $231 million in guarantees. He could be traded after 2025 and the salary guarantees would go to the team that traded for him. However, you cut him and those guarantees become dead money on our cap, which would be more than $100 million (his prorated signing bonus alone would be about $48 million given that you can only spread that out 5 years).

 

[sunalsorises]

Something seems missing from the explanation. I'm not saying it is inaccurate it just leaves me wondering why there are 4 void years and why there is only $1.4 in the first void year. I imagine a lot of those numbers eventually get pushed to the void years. I also don't understand the difference between 1 and 4 void years. All money in the void years becomes due once the contract ends so it doesn't seem to matter at that point if the money has been spread over 1 void year or 4 void years.

 

[doomsday9084]

He has $231 million in guarantees. He could be traded and the salary guarantees would go to the team that traded for him. However, you cut him and those guarantees become dead money on our cap, which would be more than $100 million.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/19089/dak-prescott

Spotrac lays it out a little different than OTC. They show the restructure bonus as a component to those cap hits.

Makes it look like 2025 wouldn't be a possible cut like OTC does.

 

[doomsday9084]

Something seems missing from the explanation. I'm not saying it is inaccurate it just leaves me wondering why there are 4 void years and why there is only $1.4 in the first void year. I imagine a lot of those numbers eventually get pushed to the void years. I also don't understand the difference between 1 and 4 void years. All money in the void years becomes due once the contract ends so it doesn't seem to matter at that point if the money has been spread over 1 void year or 4 void years.

I believe that the reasoning is rather simple and you hit it on the head. They structured the deal to give themselves flexibility to move money around. They can restructure to save money off those huge cap hits and take the hit later if they choose, likely without even negotiating it with Dak due to how the deal is structured.

 

[sunalsorises]

I believe that the reasoning is rather simple and you hit it on the head. They structured the deal to give themselves flexibility to move money around. They can restructure to save money off those huge cap hits and take the hit later if they choose, likely without even negotiating it with Dak due to how the deal is structured.

Do you know the difference between 1 and 4 void years? I imagine there is a reason for 4 but I don't see it when the money all becomes due at the same time anyway.

 

[doomsday9084]

Do you know the difference between 1 and 4 void years? I imagine there is a reason for 4 but I don't see it when the money all becomes due at the same time anyway.

I'm going to explain this poorly so someone else can pipe in. Simple math example. Let's say you have a 2 year deal with 3 void years (5 total years) and a $5m bonus. That bonus counts $1m per year towards the cap. When the deal expires after 2 years, all remaining $3m hit at once as you are saying.

If you had that same 2 year deal with 1 void year, that $5m bonus would count ($5m/3) $1.67m per year.

So, in effect what the extra void years do is to LOWER bonus cap hits while the deal is active. The more void years you add, the lower the number goes while the player is under contract. There is a limit to how many years you can extend a bonus over (5?). These void years in Dak's deal are likely to cover restructure bonuses done a few years from now.

 

[sunalsorises]

I'm going to explain this poorly so someone else can pipe in. Simple math example. Let's say you have a 2 year deal with 3 void years (5 total years) and a $5m bonus. That bonus counts $1m per year towards the cap. When the deal expires after 2 years, all remaining $3m hit at once as you are saying.

If you had that same 2 year deal with 1 void year, that $5m bonus would count ($5m/3) $1.67m per year.

So, in effect what the extra void years do is to LOWER bonus cap hits while the deal is active. The more void years you add, the lower the number goes while the player is under contract. There is a limit to how many years you can extend a bonus over (5?). These void years in Dak's deal are likely to cover restructure bonuses done a few years from now.

That's a good explanation. Thank you. It makes perfect sense.

 

[ChronicCowboy]

Don’t expect to have a competitive roster in about 3-5 years unless Dak hits his prime at 35 years old and plays until he’s 40+. They’re gonna push void money back over the next several seasons and when Dak finally goes, Dallas will be in the same position they would have been in had Dak left in 2025.