Dak Prescott contract details and cap ramifications

[Creeper]

Based on the Cowboys history. I think there will be at least one restructure next year to bring down that $90 million CAP hit. He is due $47.75 million in salary so I expect that will be converted to bonus prorated into the voidable years. But it does give the Cowboys an opportunity to take most of the hit up front if they have the room. I think this is Dak's last contract with the Cowboys but I could also see them extending him a year or two if he is still playing well at the end of this deal.

Again, based on the Cowboys history, I think they will restructure Dak multiple times to make CAP room from guys like Osa Odighizuwa, DaRon Bland, Tyler Smith, etc.

 

[TheSport78]

Dak still gonna blow up the playoffs.

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

hes Danny White.

Danny White went to three straight NFC Championships. Dakota can't even sniff one.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Good post..... a couple of things

**** Jerry and Stephen DO NOT spend big money on free agents. They just don't.......Brandon Carr was the last one.
**** I can't think of one player they have let walk over the past 10 years because they couldn't afford him. Of course, they have let players leave but it's more part of the yearly attrition ( 10-15% ).


- No big money free agents
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them

 

[Hawkeye0202]

I think this is Dak's last contract with the Cowboys but I could also see them extending him a year or two if he is still playing well at the end of this deal.

What's confusing to me is that according to OTC.......he will have no more guaranteed salary after 2025.

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


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

 

[gtb1943]

You hear about double book keeping; with the CAP you are doing quadruple book keeping.

 

[lkelly]

plus they can roll over monet from this year and still have a few restructure opportunities

Proof that Gene Jones is really in charge.

 

[CowboysLakerBamaFan]

Translated: Dak better be able to put the team on his back, with less talent around him going forward than he's ever had, and do far more than he's ever accomplished.

It's kinda hard to see how that works out, but that's the conundrum you face when you back the Brinks Truck up for a QB that's never so much as won a Divisional game, and routinely chokes in the playoffs in spectacular fashion, yet you pay him like an elite SB winning QB that rips other teams hearts out.

I'm sure it'll be fine though

 

[doomsday9084]

Good post..... a couple of things

**** Jerry and Stephen DO NOT spend big money on free agents. They just don't.......Brandon Carr was the last one.
**** I can't think of one player they have let walk over the past 10 years because they couldn't afford him. Of course, they have let players leave but it's more part of the yearly attrition ( 10-15% ).


- No big money free agents
- A fair number of players will walk because Dallas can't afford them

I would say Pollard for starters. There has been some assassination going on with him in the press for a while but IMO the team would be better with him than without. They let him walk over money.

In general though, there is a lot of hand wringing about players leaving and it ends up not being a big deal. Shultz for example.

 

[Retro88]

Guys, it's time to enjoy the season. While this was a very nice & informative post from the OP, there's just no point whining over Dak. Football is back. Enjoy it

 

[blueblood70]

Guys, it's time to enjoy the season. While this was a very nice & informative post from the OP, there's just no point whining over Dak. Football is back. Enjoy it

exactly that's how I feel why do we care about the money anyway it's not coming out of our bank account literally lefty professionals figure out the cap and figure out how to provide us a team year to year but for 2024 the teams assembled it's here it's it's already started no need to worry about crunching numbers this is not our thing...

This is about the football team the players playing football not their contracts I could care less everyone say you should care because they're gonna have a hard time and struggle building the team in the future really it's a year to year thing no figure it out they'll make sure they feel the competitive team like other teams have I mean the eagles sign there quarterback +2 wide receivers and saquon Barkley I mean he literally found a way to put these guys on the team and the Dallas Cowboys draft really well we have a lot of young players that can take over some of these other positions that are getting up in age that have big contracts their guys are gonna be falling off this roster gets younger and yes it will be top heavy and pay like everybody else's roster..

Except for the one big advantage we have our top five tight quarterback even on his worst days top ten that is what you have to have first it made no sense to sign lamb and to probably get Parsons deals done if you weren't gonna have a quarterback.. This had to happen as soon as lamb got signed I figured Prescott would soon to be after because you have to have one with the other...

So again contracts money this is all fantasy football and Madden based everybody needs to know things the fans don't need to be involved in contracts and salary caps you let the professionals handle that 'cause that's their job and it's a year to year league they'll figure out next year when next year comes I could care less about 2025 and beyond this is about this year right now....

 

[Flamma]

Dak still gonna blow up the playoffs.

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

hes Danny White.

No, he's not Danny White. Danny White went to 3 straight NFC championship games. He played pretty well in the playoffs.

 

[Flamma]

Based on the Cowboys history. I think there will be at least one restructure next year to bring down that $90 million CAP hit. He is due $47.75 million in salary so I expect that will be converted to bonus prorated into the voidable years. But it does give the Cowboys an opportunity to take most of the hit up front if they have the room. I think this is Dak's last contract with the Cowboys but I could also see them extending him a year or two if he is still playing well at the end of this deal.

Again, based on the Cowboys history, I think they will restructure Dak multiple times to make CAP room from guys like Osa Odighizuwa, DaRon Bland, Tyler Smith, etc.

They might, but I'm not sure they'll have to. They have 26M in space now, plus another 28M next season. It's looking like they are dumping a lot of Dak cap while they have the window to do it. We have a lot of space next year without touching Dak's contract. I don't even know how they pulled that off. Since Dallas just pays their own, they'll be in pretty good shape to pay anyone they want.

 

[Rockport]

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.

Man you’re so desperate with your hate.

 

[Rockport]

Guys, it's time to enjoy the season. While this was a very nice & informative post from the OP, there's just no point whining over Dak. Football is back. Enjoy it

The haters are too consumed by their hate. They’ll never stop.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

Dak still gonna blow up the playoffs.

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

hes Danny White.

Not Danny White because you have to get to the NFC Championship game first.

 

[spice]

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.

Well enough said and accurate

 

[spice]

exactly that's how I feel why do we care about the money anyway it's not coming out of our bank account literally lefty professionals figure out the cap and figure out how to provide us a team year to year but for 2024 the teams assembled it's here it's it's already started no need to worry about crunching numbers this is not our thing...

This is about the football team the players playing football not their contracts I could care less everyone say you should care because they're gonna have a hard time and struggle building the team in the future really it's a year to year thing no figure it out they'll make sure they feel the competitive team like other teams have I mean the eagles sign there quarterback +2 wide receivers and saquon Barkley I mean he literally found a way to put these guys on the team and the Dallas Cowboys draft really well we have a lot of young players that can take over some of these other positions that are getting up in age that have big contracts their guys are gonna be falling off this roster gets younger and yes it will be top heavy and pay like everybody else's roster..

Except for the one big advantage we have our top five tight quarterback even on his worst days top ten that is what you have to have first it made no sense to sign lamb and to probably get Parsons deals done if you weren't gonna have a quarterback.. This had to happen as soon as lamb got signed I figured Prescott would soon to be after because you have to have one with the other...

So again contracts money this is all fantasy football and Madden based everybody needs to know things the fans don't need to be involved in contracts and salary caps you let theprofessionals handle that 'cause that's their job and it's a year to year league they'll figure out next year when next year comes I could care less about 2025 and beyond this is about this year right now....

That’s great but how about letting those that want to discuss those matters on an open cowboy forum do it. You don’t like it fine don’t read it

 

[diamonddelts]

Dak still gonna blow up the playoffs.

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

hes Danny White.

That is an insult. Danny White made it to the NFC championship game three times and almost won one. America's Choker can't get out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

 

[zekecowboy]

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 hope Dallas does not restructure his 2025 salary.

2025: $90m

 

[T-RO]

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.

Sobering truth...but truth.

Wish fans here...some highly popular posters...could better understand the reality and see the wisdom of Bilichik's praise of the Cowboys team building.

That said...a big caveat...I'm very much uncertain if Dak's extension will be a wise gamble. Top 8 QB for certain, but such huge consequences to extend.

The alternative to the Dak signing would have been two or three years (at least) in the QB wilderness and I suspect Jerry at his age wasn't willing to stomach that.