What's the earliest out of Dak's deal?

[Kingofholland]

$231M of the $240M was guaranteed. How are you saving $140M? Please explain???

231 million wasn't guaranteed at signing, there are dates built into the contract at the start of each league year that accelerates into guarantees. So if he's not on the roster the Cowboys don't have to pay that money and save on the base salaries. The issue though with the contract is the Cowboys have to make a decision the year prior what they want to do otherwise the next year's salary becomes guaranteed. The most realistic out would be in 2027, but according to over the cap a post June 1st cut would net the Cowboys 40, 45, and 55 million in savings over 3 years 26-28 if he were cut in March 2026 with a June 1st designation.

 

[Chasing6]

231 million wasn't guaranteed at signing, there are dates built into the contract at the start of each league year that accelerates into guarantees. So if he's not on the roster the Cowboys don't have to pay that money and save on the base salaries. The issue though with the contract is the Cowboys have to make a decision the year prior what they want to do otherwise the next year's salary becomes guaranteed. The most realistic out would be in 2027, but according to over the cap a post June 1st cut would net the Cowboys 40, 45, and 55 million in savings over 3 years 26-28 if he were cut in March 2026 with a June 1st designation.

No. Those are dates the money will be paid out.


Dak Prescott | NFL Contracts & Salaries

Dak Prescott signed a 4 year , $240,000,000 contract with the Dallas Cowboys, including $80,000,000 signing bonus, $231,000,000 guaranteed.

So guaranteed no longer means guaranteed. Ok.

Notice how the potential out is after the $231M is paid???

POTENTIAL OUT: 2028, 4 YR, $231,000,000; $34,000,000 DEAD CAP

All guarantees do not have to be paid out at the time of signing.

Take a look at Moutain Mahomes contract.

 

[NotForLong]

Yup! I was fully expecting a season like the one we are having now!

How may times are you going to go to the well with a 12-5 team that wins one playoff game during that span.

The team needed to be blown up and let Dak play out the last year of his contract but Jerry doesn't believe in taking a step back or two, just like our fans.

He just made our rebuild a 100 times more difficult now!

Jerry must secretly be an eagles fan because anyone who want's the Cowboys to fail, would be do exactly what he did!

Father time has?taken its?toll amd the?water on the brain is no help either. Sadly He has a dufus for a Son who either did not see this or did not have the gonads to over rule the senile old goat

As evidenced from his press conferences this year, the man is one step away from a nursing home

 

[NotForLong]

There is a solution to this issue. Stop paying these guys stupid money. No one forced Jerry to pay Dak. That was a monumentally bad contract.

And especially, stop paying the stupid ones that money

 

[Kingofholland]

No. Those are dates the money will be paid out.

That's not how I would inteperate his contract. His salary becomes guaranteed on those March dates for the following year. He got an 80 million dollar signing bonus which is guaranteed, plus they fully guaranteed his salary in 2024 and 2025 at signing which equates to 129 million. The rest of the guarantees are dependent on him remaining with the Cowboys.

 

[Chasing6]

That's not how I would inteperate his contract. His salary becomes guaranteed on those March dates for the following year. He got an 80 million dollar signing bonus which is guaranteed, plus they fully guaranteed his salary in 2024 and 2025 at signing which equates to 129 million. The rest of the guarantees are dependent on him remaining with the Cowboys.

Why does it say $231M of the $240M is guaranteed???

 

[Loso86]

Doesn't his contract have a no trade clause.

He could wave depending on the team if he wants

 

[spice]

You can do whatever you want a team can choose to do whatever they want what I'm telling you it would be a waste drafting a high traffic sitting him on the bench and finding out he was a waste of a draft pick you literally don't know know what you got even if you draft a guy high and start him tomorrow but the worst thing would happen is you waste a draft pick that can help your team this year for something three years down the road to find out he's a total bust because most of the quarterbacks taken are not who they were supposed to be on draft day most like 75% of them you're taking a risk wasting a high draft pick I didn't say you couldn't get one in the fourth or fifth round..

Nope as of last year that meme that was running around from 2016 to 2023 95 quarterbacks were drafted and only one of them has won a Super Bowl and that would be Patrick mahomes but he did play his rookie year and he has a ridiculous coaching staff and the man is elite but most of the quarterbacks are failures most of them I don't know what you're trying to sell me but I know what I've been watching and I said everything I said above and I'm not saying it again..

Picking a quarterback in the first round would be a giant monumental mistake if he's not playing the year he's drafted or is sometime coming in the year he's drafted the great ones teams are not afraid to start them their rookie years that's what I'm talking about when you're ready for one you want and you put him on the field.. Because there's too many examples like Anthony Richardson types more so 75% of them are failures in the NFL you cannot waste a high draft pick on a quarterback when you know you have a starter for the next three years....

You already have your quarterback you pick what you need in the first round to make your team better that year... Yes that's what I'm saying I'm sorry but I am telling you what I have seen over the last decade or more that teams looking for starters can't find them literally ready for a starter in the draft and spent decades looking for one it's rarely a hit the guys like CJ Stroud or Daniels they don't come around most guys who are picked in the first round that have these credentials they end up being bussed and if you don't get it I'm sorry I'm telling you it would be a mistake for this team in this position when we know we need to fix a lot of holes to pick any prime skill position or trenches in the first round would be a better bet sorry I'm not ready to be tanking and waiting for Prescott to walk out and when you're gonna cut him so yes it'll be a monumental mistake to even suggest it but you're allowed to suggest it so I'm moving on they're not gonna do it for that exact reason..

When the Cowboys are ready to move on from Prescott they will draft a quarterback or they gonna be like all the other teams getting mid level guys and hope to reconstruct somebody's career like Geno Smith Sam darnold or Baker Mayfield you know why because they can't get one in the DANG draft. Do you get that I mean teams are going after guys like deshaun Watson and Aaron Rodgers end Wilson and paying them extreme money these are Prescott guys these are like that we already have one we're gonna keep him and try to make it work with him...

I mean these are examples of teams that have spent decades looking for one in the draft and can't find one and you wanna get one that might workout three years from now and then find out when he does it you just wasted a chance at a premier pass rusher I premiere defensive tackle a premier wide receiver that's what you take in the 1st right now because right now we have a quarterback making $60 million a year and we need the best draft picks we can get because we know what our front office is and if you don't get it I'm not buying it so I'm trying to sell me I'm saying you're 100% wrong in this situation we need to fill holes with premier players in the first 3 rounds,,

Im glad there are people like you around to let the rest us know how it should be done. Blowhard

 

[conner01]

If you cut him before March 18th, 2026 it doesn't. That's the guarantee date.

That leaves over 60 mil cap hit and the 2026 salary is guaranteed because it guarantees the year before. Sportrac has it even farther out

231 million wasn't guaranteed at signing, there are dates built into the contract at the start of each league year that accelerates into guarantees. So if he's not on the roster the Cowboys don't have to pay that money and save on the base salaries. The issue though with the contract is the Cowboys have to make a decision the year prior what they want to do otherwise the next year's salary becomes guaranteed. The most realistic out would be in 2027, but according to over the cap a post June 1st cut would net the Cowboys 40, 45, and 55 million in savings over 3 years 26-28 if he were cut in March 2026 with a June 1st designation.

those guarantees are the season ahead. So let’s say he plays next year then 2026 is already guaranteed before this next season starts

 

[Whiskey Cowboy]

We may have an opportunity to draft the top LT in the draft. and move Guyton to the RT. Find a veteran RG in FA and draft a RB in round 2.

Or we could draft a QB if there's a good one on the board, and the new coach signs off on it. All depends on how the draft board falls. We can get out of Dak's contract in 2026, meaning if we draft our guy next year, he gets to sit a year behind Dak and give the coaching staff a power evaluation without the pressure of leading an incomplete team. If he's not ready in 2026, keep Dak another year, eat a lesser cap hit in 2027.

Look man, Dak is getting older. His body is already falling apart. He just tore his hamstring the first time he really tried to run this year, and his arm isn't what it used to be. He's becoming unreliable. That's a problem. We can try to fix it early, and have a replacement for when it's time to move on, or we can wait and risk replaying the Campo years. I like the first option better.

 

[Swagger]

2026 as a post June 1st cut. There would still be 60 million in guarantees left, but spread over 3 years they save over 40 million a season. So it's not impossible, but the Cowboys should use 2025 to draft and develop a qb if they're serious about it.

Makes the most sense. Draft a QB in first round in 2025. Let Prescott start one more season whilst the rookie develops like the Falcons are doing with Cousins and then dump Dak. Rookie starts in 2026.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

2026 as a post June 1st cut. There would still be 60 million in guarantees left, but spread over 3 years they save over 40 million a season. So it's not impossible, but the Cowboys should use 2025 to draft and develop a qb if they're serious about it.

I've suggested some ideas

 

[DuncanIso]

When, and what is the earliest way out of the Dak deal? Not asking for your opinion. Facts only. Has anyone studied the contract.

2026 POST-6/1 RELEASE​

2026 Dead Cap: $28,005,000
2027 Dead Cap: $34,000,000
2026 Savings: $40,000,000

 

[DuncanIso]

Makes the most sense. Draft a QB in first round in 2025. Let Prescott start one more season whilst the rookie develops like the Falcons are doing with Cousins and then dump Dak. Rookie starts in 2026.

Got one.

Trey Lance

 

[DuncanIso]

What's the earliest we can get fans who are casual fans who think that quarterbacks still our issue out of here??????!!

they have to have their own separate little playground in here and keep making up that post as if he's the one that's the problem what's the earliest we can get those fans out of here and then only allow the ones in here that understand the game of football is inside out ??

and that should start a post what's the earliest our GM will wake up and actually see the need to actually build a team around his star quarterback and yes top 10 easy star quarterback in the NFL and everybody wants them gone you guys are absolutely clueless and delusional if you keep thinking like Tony Romo that he's the issue he's not the issue the issue is everything else you saw in that game the offensive line is bad the run game is inconsistent you got guys on easy plays like playing volleyball with a pass that should have been pitching catch and he can't even catch it he takes him three tries to catch it we got guys that can't get open we have a coaching staff that can't even scheme their players into better situations I've never seen so many route trees ran in the same area at the same depth over and over it's like we have a high school offense and you keep thinking it's the quarterback ??!!


I mean you can't block and you can't run and your quarterbacks getting beat up like in 2020 I mean isn't that the narrative from the offseason historically bad offseason we don't put enough talent here and then we have attrition with all the injuries especially on the defensive side of football this is a team game it is a big systemic team problem it starts with the front office the GM, when's the earliest we can get this coaching staff gone?

Seriously Prescott as a rookie won 13 games he was rookie of the year played really well in the Green Bay playoff game was that his fault they lost the game or was that once again the defense couldn't stop Aaron Rodgers?

Then in 2020 this man gets broken because of a bad team around him and a lot of injuries especially on the offensive line he gets his ankles snapped off but did he hold out no he was playing under the franchise tag he wasn't one of those selfish players everyone keeps saying he is he showed up for training camp including this year he's been showing up he's the leaders on this team and then he gets paid and then immediately puts up a 37 touchdown in 10 interception year in 2021... In 2022 it only hurts his calf then he breaks his hand and we have Cooper rush enter and not play well at all but everyone here says he's playing well but he did not go look at the stats the man had five touchdowns in five games he had three interceptions in five games he had a 50 set completion percentage in five days the man had a great team playing around him making sure he didn't lose.. When can we get that back? I mean can we get that back soon like a strong running game and a good defense 'cause we haven't had one of those in like 3 years a defense that played well in big games against better teams..

But guess what it's obvious who the better quarterback was because if you were really watching and you weren't a hater our team went from the bottom 10 in offense right back into the top five literally was putting up over 30 points a game when Prescott reentered in 2022 but all people can remember is some of the interceptions which by the way are very similar to this year I mean half of them were not his fault they were hitting people in the hands guys are running the wrong routes I mean if you keep blaming the quarterback we need to know how soon you all can get up outta here we don't want you as a fan base and yeah like the guy started that ridiculous post about us saying go find another team I'm saying it think the quarterback is the problem here you need to go find another team..

And this man instead of getting a new contract early to save the team money which is the MO for this GM he waits to the last minute to sign lamb and then sign Dak,. If he had signed them earlier he could have went out and got a better running back and some other players to at least make this team better isn't that what the three month narrative I had to sit and listen to the Whiting and crying by a bunch of the same of you in here and now with all the injuries added to the fact that we have lack of talent you're blaming the quarterback we're back to blaming the quarterback did you watch that game the man turn the ball over which is why what we were saying why we were losing games right no fumbles no interceptions he got beat up they said he needed to run more so he comes out and he runs more and we still have all these posts blaming the quarterback when it's obviously we're losing in the trenches we're losing on defense we're losing cause of our coaching staff and you think quarterback issue you're trying to g....e team around him is full of nonsense..

But that's odd that lamb had to hold out but our man showed up Prescott showed up and he was in practice he was in training camp he literally was like risking himself and his contract and yet that's all you guys can do is come in here and hate on the man this is not a Prescott issue right now it's a fan base issue because they're blind to the facts you have to have a better team in order to produce better especially on offense you can't be one-dimensional you have to have a defense that keeps scores low you can't have defenses having guys wide open for touchdowns that's right 21 easy points wouldn't it be nice if Prescott had guys running free and wide open all game like literally all game especially in the big moments on 3rd down and in goal to go teams have wide open guys against this defense...


Here we are trying to figure out when to get rid of Prescott when 70% of the world the media and the fan base said Jerry was stupid for not signing him early and now you want to get rid of him you guys are blind casual fans who are not really seeing the reality you talked about it all season all we have is Prescott with two rookies on the offensive line now Martin just fell off a Cliff he's playing like crap I mean total crap hey Cortana give a pass to Terence Steele and we're trying to bring guyton along instead of blaming the coaches for not doing what they did today guyton went out injured they should've shuffled the offensive line they needed to be playing with Tyler Smith at left tackle Bassett left guard Cooper at center and yes Martin would have had to stay and then you move Guyton right tackle why don't we do that why don't we try to make this better and then the fact that they have games where they took Rico out and tried to run zeke tried to run Vaughn and the whole time they should have made Rico Kareem hunt you just hand him the ball 20 * a game and see what you can do we had the guy on the team that shou.... our number one guy and all year long to play well.


go ahead that makes you feel better keep focusing on blaming the quarterback for all our issues.... somehow jerry brainwashed you guys since the start of the season the entire narrative shifted to blame DAK!!!!,

We will never win with Dak.

 

[Kingofholland]

Why does it say $231M of the $240M is guaranteed???

Guarantees in the NFL are strange and often its not all fully guaranteed without hitting some underlying conditions. Dak's agent negotiated a good deal for him, where the Cowboys have to make determinations on keeping him a year in advance otherwise the following years salary becomes guaranteed. That's where the guarantee phrase comes into play. Below is a good breakdown of the contract structure.

• $129M guaranteed at signing (signing bonus + 2024 salary + 2025 salary)
• $40M 2026 salary fully guarantees March 16, 2025 (injury guaranteed at signing)
• $45M 2027 salary fully guarantees the 5th league day of 2026 (injury guaranteed at signing)
• $17M of 2028 salary fully guarantees the 5th league day of 2027 (injury guaranteed at signing)

 

[Cowboys1966]

Do you really think Jerry is going to pay Dak 60 million to sit on his couch? It will never happen, we are stuck with him for the next three seasons at best.

Trade him this off season. We would save about 46 million in cap space for 25… And open up even more for later years.

I think we could get a first rounder for him,which we can package to move up for a quarterback if there’s one there that we like. Tank in 25, and rebuild with an eye towards 26/27.

 

[jgboys1]

Why would you want to get rid of him ? Dak's best football has arrived . He's not playing which means no more interceptions and 3 and outs .

Yes. He can't do touch damage standing on the sidelines holding a clipboard. Right?

 

[kskboys]

That’s a good question. The answer has to do with how much Jerry wants to pay out of pocket. So maybe 2026.

But here’s the thing, there are quite a few other franchises in the same boat right now. This is exactly like when the NFL started paying their 1st round QBs more and more money until the owners got together and put an end to it.

No way anyone should be paid next man up when you aren’t the top player in your position in the league.

That might be the stupidest way to pay I've ever heard of. Hard to believe the owners fell for it.

 

[kskboys]

Trade him this off season. We would save about 46 million in cap space for 25… And open up even more for later years.

I think we could get a first rounder for him,which we can package to move up for a quarterback if there’s one there that we like. Tank in 25, and rebuild with an eye towards 26/27.

Trade? You are off your meds!!!!!

Only way to trade Dak at this point would be to either 1)Pay a large chunk of his salary, or 2)Give up draft picks for someone to take the salary off our hands.

Dak would've been worth a high draft pick if Jerry had traded him before this season. As usual, Jerry waited too long, and now the value is crapp. Sign and trade should've been done before the season.