Subscribe
Follow Us
Dak Prescott is ready to make his return to the Dallas Cowboys for their Week 1 showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday. But before the Cowboys take the field for their season opener, there was one last piece of business to take care of involving Prescott.
Dallas has converted $6.25 million of Prescott's base salary and turned it into a signing bonus. This opens up about $5 million more in cap space for 2021. Here are the full details:
Cowboys doing some financial checkups by converting $6.25 mil of Dak Prescott's base salary and turning it into signing bonus. A source tells @dmn_cowboys Prescott's base salary is now $2.7 mil and cap number is $17 mil. This creates $5 mil in cap space.
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) September 7, 2021
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott had also recently restructured his contract to create cap space. This is standard operating procedure around the NFL at this time of year as teams look for ways to get more cap flexibility.
Article Continues Below
Dallas and Dak finally agreed on a four-year, $160 million extension earlier in 2021, with $126 million of that deal guaranteed. The Cowboys had been negotiating with Prescott on a new deal for a while, so it was a relief to get that done and get their franchise quarterback locked up.
Prescott hasn't played since suffering a devastating ankle injury in Week 5 last season. The injury ultimately required two surgeries. While he was recovered from that at the starting of training camp, a shoulder injury limited him. The quarterback didn't play at all in the preseason.
The Cowboys star is going to be thrown right into the fire against the ferocious Buccaneers defense. Tampa Bay will be starting its title defense on Thursday night, so it's going to be a tough challenge for Prescott as he makes his return to the gridiron.
