Why’d Cowboys Just Change QB Dak Contract?

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott recently finished two years of arduous contract negotiations to finally forge the new monster four-year $160 million contract.

So why on Tuesday did they just restructure the deal?

Our Mike Fisher, via Cowboys flagship station 105.3 The Fan, explains:

“They’re converting converting $6.5 million of his 2021 base salary into signing bonus money. It's a simple “flip of a switch” built into the four-year, $160 million contract signed by Prescott this spring that represents a bookkeeping device. There is no negotiation needed to do this and there is no financial sacrifice on the part of the player.”

And more from The Fan: Said Jones in his Tuesday visit with “Shan & RJ”: “It was anticipated when we made the contract and it's part of the contract that allows you to manage your roster. Everything about it was expected."

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A source told 105.3 The Fan that the intention of this move is just like it was with a recent similar “switch flip” with running back Ezekiel Elliott’s contract. In that move, $7 million of room was created, but all together, as Fish writes, “there is no specific front-burner target or intention with the new space” but “it does create a ‘slush fund’ in case of a personnel opportunity or emergency this year, but maybe more important, teams cab also have the option to carry over unused cap space into the following season.”

Jones said as much on The Fan, saying, “It was looking around the corner, looking at what you're going to need as you move through … this season, but certainly into next season.”

What Jones and Fish and The Fan are telling us: This isn’t the precursor to a blockbuster trade; it’s just bookkeeping.