The Dallas Cowboys and star quarterback Dak Prescott fell short in the playoffs again after another impressive regular season this year, but there is a good chance that won't stop Prescott from cashing in on his next contract.

With only one year remaining on his contract, Prescott holds significant leverage when it comes to extension negotiations with Dallas, as Ari Meirov pointed out.

“[Prescott's] cap number for 2024 is a whopping $59.45 million. He cannot be tagged next year, meaning he can become an unrestricted free agent no matter what. He also has a no-trade clause. If Dak were to leave in free agency next year, Dallas would take on $36.4 million in dead money for 2025,” Meirov said.

As Meirov stated, whether Prescott is the Cowboys' quarterback in 2025, Dallas will be on the hook for at least $36.46 million. NFL insider Ian Rapoport also recently reported that the Cowboys want to complete an extension before free agency begins to lower his nearly $60 million cap hit this season. That set of circumstances gives Cowboys owner Jerry Jones quite a few reasons to pony up to keep Prescott in Dallas beyond 2024.

Over the past few years, Prescott and his agent have also had the benefit of watching how the quarterback market has developed. Since Prescott signed a $160 million extension in 2021, which included $95 million guaranteed at signing, nearly a dozen quarterbacks have signed for either the same or more money than him.

Deshaun Watson's controversial, fully guaranteed $230 million contract is the bar that every player probably wants and possibly zero owners are willing to give. So even if Jones is hesitant to give Prescott, who will turn 31 this offseason, as much guaranteed money as the Browns gave Watson, it wouldn't be surprising if the Cowboys extended Prescott a similar deal to that of Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow.

Four different quarterbacks signed for $255 million or more last offseason, with Burrow's $275 million deal carrying the largest average salary at $55 million. Jackson's deal included the largest signing bonus ($72.5 million) in NFL history, which surpassed Prescott's previous record-setting price of $66 million.

Although he is older than both, Precott has unique leverage, the benefit of seeing what Jackson and Burrow signed for, and just completed one of, if not the best year of his career.

Prescott led the Cowboys to a 12-5 record while throwing for 4,516 yards and an NFL-best 36 touchdowns. He finished second in MVP voting and became a three-time Pro Bowler, but the playoff woes continued for Prescott and Dallas.

Despite playing the young Green Bay Packers at home, the Cowboys fell behind 27-0 in the first half of the wild-card game and were never able to recover. Prescott threw two costly interceptions, the second of which was returned more than 60 yards for a touchdown.

In his career, Prescott has never reached the NFC Championship, having lost twice in the divisional round.