While star Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes reached a gigantic, 10-year contract extension which will pay him $45 million in annual average, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will play out the 2020 season on the franchise tag.
The Cowboys had expressed interest in signing Prescott to a long-term deal all offseason, but ESPN's Adam Schefter reported they had not made contact with his camp in weeks.
The Cowboys and Dak Prescott have no further plans to talk at this time and haven’t attempted to negotiate a new deal in weeks.. Short of a dramatic 11th-hour change, Prescott no longer will be able to sign a long-term deal until 2021, when he is scheduled to become a free agent. https://t.co/kFq25Gib9B
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2020
As such, Wednesday's deadline came and went without Dak receiving a new deal, and this could have major salary-cap implications for the Cowboys.
Prescott seems to be betting on himself. He will make $31.4 million in 2020, and the tag number increases to over $37 million in 2021. Of course, all of that money counts against the cap for the Cowboys.
Ed Werder of ESPN noted Dak could count as much as $123 million against Dallas' cap in the next three seasons. Despite his new contract, Mahomes will count for just $71.6 million during that period.
Dak Prescott joins Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins as the only QBs to play on the franchise tag. If Prescott plays the next 3 seasons on the franchise tag, he would charge $123M to #Cowboys cap – that compares to SB MVP Patrick Mahomes’ total of $71.6M during the same timeframe.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) July 15, 2020
Mahomes will make plenty of money over the life of his deal, especially on the back end. But the above tidbit makes it pretty clear why Dak would avoid signing, say, a five-year deal at a $35 million average. He can get more money just by playing on the tag before potentially hitting the market and receiving a more lucrative offer elsewhere.
In fact, K.C. Drummond of USA TODAY's Cowboys Wire wrote about why the Cowboys might not even be able to afford Prescott's tag number in 2021 in part due to potential salary cap ramifications stemming from lost revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic.
There seemed to be reason for optimism for Cowboys fans at the start of the offseason. Now, not quite as much.
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