He's more than just the next in line. He wins, he leads, and he plays well when it matters. And NO quarterback plays well without the pieces around him and that includes the offensive system, which has been the Cowboys biggest weakness since Dak has been qb.
The problem is he has a lot of elite pieces around him and those elite pieces cost money.
If he was truly an elite player then I would always prioritize the elite QB over WR's, Olineman, RB, Linebackers, basically anyone on the team.
But he is more dependent then most because he is not an elite player. Even calling him top 10 QB is a stretch.
So if you look around the league it's been very difficult for teams with high paid QB's to have success after they have gotten paid.
So if we want to win a Superbowl maybe paying a non-elite QB elite QB money is not the best idea.
If he had won a Superbowl when he was under his rookie contract then i'd be all for it but he didn't get it done and now we are supposed to pay him? He's just not good enough to take up that much cap space.