Chiefs Open Talks With Mahomes; What It Means To Dak & Cowboys
FRISCO - The Kansas City Chiefs have opened contract talks with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, an action that is certain to have a domino effect on the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott.
But which way will the domino fall?
As Mahomes figures to be in line for a contract that blows away any of its precedents, the Cowboys would on the one hand seem to have every reason to accelerate their discussions with Prescott, and maybe even to hurriedly up their offer. After all, Mahomes is likely to exceed the $40 million-per-year threshold. Or the $50 million threshold. Or something similarly unprecedented.
Dallas presently has on the table, as we've reported for weeks, a five-year offer to Dak at about $35 million APY with virtual guarantees in excess of $106 million. Prescott has balked at this, desiring, among other things, a short, four-year deal. (See more details here.)
A new monster deal in Kansas City could dwarf those numbers. So should Dallas act now?
On the other hand: What is Dak Prescott's hurry? The value of Dallas' offer has gone up since last fall, when the Cowboys thought a deal was "imminent.'' Every day that Dak waits - especially during this injury-risk-free period away from the field - he stands to possibly increase his worth.
Why shouldn't Prescott wait until the July 15 deadline to decide whether to play on the $31.409 million tag or to try to coat-tail on Mahomes' deal?
As frustrating as this is for Cowboys Nation (and for the Cowboys, too, who believe they have tried in earnest to solve this ever since the August 2019 offer that would've make Dak a "top-five-paid QB'' at the time, it is the nature of the beast. "Dominoes'' are how this works; Mahomes' new deal will be constructed in a way that exceeds the present highest-paid QBs that came before him ... and ensuing contracts will be built on Mahomes'.
That doesn't mean Dak will get the same gargantuan contract that Mahomes gets; it would be impossible for agent Todd France of CAA to make that argument. Of course, up until recently, it seemed absurd that Prescott, as good as he's been, would be able to ask for "Russell Wilson money.''
Yet that's where we are.
Mahomes might very well be the best player in the NFL. Dak can't make that case. But each deal is built on the shoulders of the last. And Dak Prescott is about to benefit from negotiating a contract in the same spring and summer during which Patrick Mahomes is about to offer the broadest financial "shoulders'' in the history of the NFL.
