'The Tag Is Your Friend': $123 Million Worth of Dak Advice
FRISCO - Kirk Cousins showed that the franchise tag can "be a friend.'' That's the advice he's gave to Dak Prescott. And now Dak, the tag salary and the Dallas Cowboys are all going to have to be pals, in this together. For a year. Or two. Or ...
"I believe the franchise tag can be your friend,” Cousins said this offseason. “I don’t think it’s something to be disappointed with. I think it enables you to be well-compensated, and deservedly so, for the upcoming season. Then, I always say the cream will rise to the top. If you’re good enough, the cream’s going to rise to the top, and you’re going to get compensated the way you want to.''
Cousins would know. As the QB for Washington, he played under the franchise tag twice, in 2016 and again in 2017, before bolting for the Minnesota Vikings in free agency in 2018.
Once he got to the Vikings, he got a three-year, $84 million deal - and the whole package was fully-guaranteed. But for those two tagged years in Washington? Those were also fully-guaranteed, in the separate seasons, he made $20 mil and $24 mil simply by accepting the tag and not negotiating a new deal.
If Dak follows that same path? It starts now, with the Wednesday 3 p.m. CT deadline to newly negotiate having passed without change. So he gets the guaranteed $31.409 million for 2020.
"Grateful and blessed,'' reflected Dak on Wednesday.
And should he be tagged again in 2021? The CBA dictates that a twice-tagged player receive a 120-percent bump, meaning Prescott's second tag would pay him $37.7 million.
That's a two-year total of $69 million. Do the Cowboys want to tag him a third time? That would mean a $54 million salary in 2022, for a three-year total of $123 million.
So yes, you can imagine Dallas would've rather paid him $35 million APY (the five-year offer that was on the table that we reported also included more than $106 million guaranteed) than to pay him a tagged average of $34.5 million (for two years) and $41.11 million (for three years).
COO Stephen Jones recently told us, "Dak is the quarterback of our franchise now, and for many years to come. We’ve gotta get his contract - we’ve gotta get over that hurdle. But we’ll do it. It’ll ultimately get done.”
Stephen and the Cowboys might have the first part right. Dak is the franchise QB. But neither side did "ultimately get it done.'' A 1 p.m. Wednesday phone exchange between the front office and agent Todd France wasn't enough. Dak himself jumping into the talks wasn't, either.
And now the two sides trudge into Washington/Cousins Country, where words like 'trust'' and "faith'' and "eventual divorce'' become part of the speculation.
"My message to Dak,'' Cousins said, "when I saw him midseason last year (in a Vikings win at Dallas), was, ‘Hey, whatever happens, don’t be afraid of the tag. It can be your friend, and you can use it to your advantage.'”
The advice, now followed, is financially-sound. What no one can know, yet, is whether it's football-sound.
