The front office handled that whole thing poorly. Dak was going to bend them over no matter what but they gave up every bit of leverage they had over the course of the multiple year saga and ended up having to overpay.
They should be drafting QBs each year to try to have at least a development option. If they did that they may have had the next Dak or at least some leaverage to push back with. You know Dak wanted paid but you don’t know if he was willing to go to a crappy team to get it.
The fact the Op even asked this question just shows that he knows there's an issue, as do most Cowboys fans. But it's easier to swallow the current situation when you say "what other option did we have."
You pretty much nailed it. Teams plan for these contingencies. What makes it even worse is that we paid Dak coming off a catastrophic injury and had no idea how he would handle the game from both a physical and mental standpoint. I'll admit Dak came out like gangbusters and I was glad to see how he responded mentally.
At then of the day, signing Dak was a good move for Jerry and company. Dak can beat up on lesser teams and give the fans hope. We'll be relevant and the stands will be full, as will Jerry's bank account. But I'm pretty much resigned to relying on the D if we have any hope of playoff success.
