WESTLAKE, Texas _ The deadline is here and gone, and Dak Prescott will make six times as much in 2020 as he made in his first four NFL seasons combined.
Welcome to NFL franchise tag hell, Dak.
Prescott's rookie contract paid him a total of $4.9 million over four years, which in that span was the single biggest steal by any NFL franchise on one deal.
Now he is scheduled to make $31.4 million in what will be a span of a little bit more than four months. NFL. Players are paid over 17 weeks.
With the Cowboys unable to reach a long-term deal with their franchise quarterback before Wednesday afternoon's league deadline, Prescott will now become the third NFL quarterback to play a season under the franchise tag.
Drew Brees did it once, and Kirk Cousins twice.
The only reason for the Cowboys not to sign Prescott to a long-term deal now is they think he is closer to Cousins than he is to Brees.
Or they think with COVID-19 lurking under every bottle of hand sanitizer that there is an increasing chance there will not be an NFL season, or some games will be canceled, thereby saving them some of that guaranteed money.
Or they simply operate with so much money that any "savings" equates to pennies and dimes ... back when we actually had coins.
If they think Prescott is better than Cousins, which he is, by not agreeing to a contract now all they have done is cost themselves more money.
"What they should do is sit him down, show him their books, and say this is the most we can pay you," former Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware said Wednesday morning at his new fitness facility in the Trophy Club area.
Ware went through his share of contract chats with the Cowboys during his career.
"If I'm going to be the franchise guy, I need to feel like I'm part of your business," Ware said hours before the deadline, adding that the problem is that the team is eventually going to have to sign him to a costly long-term deal. "Defensive ends right now are getting $100 million, and you know there are going to be more guys, like Lamar Jackson and DeShaun Watson," who are also going to get big deals soon. "All this is going to do is go up. I'd rather get him now, because this is the cheapest you are going to get him."
(Sure wish someone would pay me $31 million and call it cheap.)
None of this makes any sense.
As Ware said, "They built the entire team around Dak. Even the defense, to an extent."
And the new coaching staff, too.
Jerry Jones and his Dallas Cowboys believe in Prescott. They love him.
Only because it's the Cowboys not giving him an extension makes sense.
They have offered Prescott five years in the area of $34 million, including $110 million in guarantees. His "new" agent Todd France passed.
The only significant change since this offer was made last year was the deal signed by Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs that will pay him $45 million starting in 2022.
For some players playing under the franchise tag is such an irritant it ruins their relationship with their team.
It's hard to see how the franchise tag affects Prescott. Nothing he has done in his time at Mississippi State or during his career with the Cowboys suggests his contract situation will affect his performance.
Prescott is a pro, and he gets it.
He will get his money this year, assuming there is a season.
He will get his money next year, when the two sides try to do an extension again.
And we get yet another year of Prescott contract talks.
Only the Cowboys.
