If Dak sits for two full seasons, then you are right but if Dak does that, the chances are that eh only hurts himself IMO. This, to me, is a what have you done for me lately type league. If Dak sits out training camp and Pre-season, if Dak sits out the first 4 games, what would you think his season might look like, keeping in mind that we will be putting in a new offense. I know people say the Offense isn't changing but I don't buy into that at all. If you aren't changing the Offense, then why hire a new staff? The Offense is going to change and it's only going to hurt Dak if he misses all of that. If you are the Cowboys and Dak isn't signed by March 15th or whatever the date is, the Cowboys are paying more against the cap for whatever they sign Dak to so to me, that's pretty key. The knock behind tagging is that it the entire salary is a hit in the current cap year. If you get to March 15th with no contract, then you are pretty much in that situation anyway so why not? After that, FA open period starts so the Cowboys could go out and sign an FA QB, they could target a young QB in the Draft and then Tag Dak. If he signs the tag and reports by the 4th game then he can gain a vested year against the tag but what does he look like during the season? If he misses all that time, he isn't showing up ready to compete. He would likely struggle and there is a really good chance that he ends up injured. Seen it many times. What does that do to his value for the next season? If he tries that again, I gotta believe that by the end of the second tagged year, his stock is way down and nobody is talking about paying him top dollar. If the Cowboys go out and actually bring in a half way decent Vet FA and then turn around and bring in a promising rookie, if the Cowboys apply the highest amount of pressure they are capable of applying, then they do two things here. One, they put themselves in the best possible situation for life after Dak and they have a plan to move forward but Two, and this to me is more important, they create a situation where Dak is going to have a really hard time justifying signing the tag and sitting not a long term deal. To me, this would be a real tough hand for Dak to just stand pat on. Two years from now, you don't know what the market for him is. You don't know what happens if you open the door for a Vet who can play in the NFL and you don't know what a talent young QB might learn in two years. This, to me, is the way you solve this entire thing. I think this is the strategy you use to get Dak signed this year. Now, it costs you some resources that you would like to be able to maybe use elsewhere but what you get in return for this is more important and so it's worth it IMO.
