Shohei Ohtani Biggest Contract Ever; How Close Will Dak Prescott Come In Next Dallas Cowboys Deal?

ARLINGTON - Baseball is baseball and football is football and never the players' salary twain shall meet ... or, at least that might be what NFL owners hope.

But it can be argued that Shohei Ohtani - the two-way superstar who is signing a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that will make him the highest-paid athlete in the history of American sports - is raising the bar for everybody who plays a game ...

Maybe even Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.

Presently, the top-paid NFL quarterbacks (in terms of APY) are Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts - all of them up and over $50 million.

That's not "Ohtani money''; he will become the first player in North America to break the $70 million mark annually. Nor is what the top NFL guys make quite a match for what NBA guys get.

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But Dak - who is experiencing an MVP season in Dallas and who is on the Cowboys' front burner when it comes to a plan to take his present deal (worth $40 million annually) and replace it with a contract that quite possibly will make him the highest-paid player in NFL history - is climbing up that way.

Who makes $50 million per season now? The top 15 guys start with Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Then come the NBA guys. No. 2 in the top 15 is Damian Lillard, who makes $60.9 million APY with the Milwaukee Bucks. No. 3 is Giannis Antetokounmpo, at $59 mil, also with the Bucks. No. 4 is Anthony Davis ($59 million) of the Los Angeles Lakers. No. 5. is Jaylen Brown ($57.7 million) of the Boston Celtics.

No. 6 is Devin Booker ($55.7 million) of the Phoenix Suns. No. 7 is Karl-Anthony Towns ($55.7 million) of the Minnesota Timberwolves. No. 8 is Nikola Jokic ($55.2 million) of the Denver Nuggets.

Then the NFL guys start popping onto the list, as No. 9 is Burrow ($55 million) of the Cincinnati Bengals.

At No. 10 is Stephen Curry ($53.8 million) of the Golden State Warriors. Signed a four-year contract worth $215.4 mil and at No. 11 is Joel Embiid ($53.3 million) of the Philadelphia 76ers.

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No. 12 is NFL star Justin Herbert ($52.5 million) of the Los Angeles Chargers. No. 13 is Lamar Jackson ($52 million) of the Baltimore Ravens. No. 14 is Jalen Hurts ($51 million) of the Philadelphia Eagles. And rounding out the top 15 (hat-tip Fox Sports) is Bradley Beal ($50.2 million) of the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

Where will Dak Prescott eventually land? The "top 15'' might be a moveable thing as salaries continue to rise. But the $50 million mark? - with wealth enough that the Cowboys QB can hang in the same neighborhood with Shohei Ohtani?

Brace yourself. It's coming.