Cowboys' No. 1 Issue: Dak Prescott Contract Solution - And Will Dallas Get It Wrong?
The Dallas Cowboys know they are entering a defining period in the franchise's history as yet another poor playoff loss left them with more questions than answers regarding the roster and its ability to win a Super Bowl.
Of all the key decisions that Dallas must make this offseason, "No. 1'' starts and stops with what the franchise does with Dak Prescott's contract. With Dak's $59.46 million cap hit no doubt giving fans a headache, the Cowboys must be cap-compliant by the beginning of the new league year (March 13) and the clock is ticking.
With Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb also due new contracts on top of Prescott's in the near future, the Dallas quarterback deal can make life easier for all involved.
How big is the Dak deal? (And yes, we mean that in both ways) ... We can easily label it "the defining move'' of this offseason.
We've gone through the essence of the three choices here.
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What are they? Dallas has a trio of options here, including what we're terming "The Voidable-Years Band-aid'' ... explained in short below ...
OPTION 1) Stick with the original plan of believing in Dak and give him an extension, maybe worth $60 million APY, that would make him the highest-paid player in NFL history. ... but one that would also provide Dallas with $20 million of cap room.
OPTION 2) Let it ride. Leaving that $59.4 million as is would be crippling in terms of roster-building, because it wouldn't provide that aforementioned cap room. But if there is a distrust of what Prescott is as a QB? Let him be a prove-it lame duck, just like coach Mike McCarthy.
And then either pay him later ... once he's winning playoff games ... or don't.
OPTION 3) Flip the Switch - The Band-aid. As we've written before, most Cowboys contracts include "automatic conversions,'' what we call "flipping a switch'' that "converts base salary to bonus'' ... and pushes money into future years.
In Dak's case, there are already two voidable years on the contract after 2024. So the Cowboys could "flip a switch'' and knock his $29 million salary for 2024 down to the league minimum of $1.21 million.
So, what to do? Which choice to make? Want to talk about keeping Tyron Smith or Tony Pollard or Jayron Kearse or Dorance Armstrong or Tyler Biadasz or Stephon Gilmore?
If the Cowboys leave things as they are, and eat Dak's monster cap hit, it seriously hinders their ability to keep those others, and to add to the roster.
The Cowboys have a host of pressing needs, as all teams do. Reminder, though: After a trio of 12-5 seasons, they have fewer pressing needs that most. But in terms of one big decision, inside The Star and across the NFL horizon? Getting the Prescott domino to fall is a gigantic story ... and it represents a Job One decision that Dallas simply cannot get wrong.
