Between now and the July 15 deadline for NFL teams to work out a long-term deal with their franchise-tagged players, there will be a lot of words wasted on Dak Prescott’s contract negotiations with the Cowboys.
This isn’t a terribly complicated situation and the fact that we’re treating it as such could very well be the result of our current, um, situation. There are no sports and all of the offseason events NFL fans look forward to have come and gone. There’s nothing left to fight talk about, and we’re not going to just stop yelling at each other about sports.
So this is what we’ll fight about until the Cowboys eventually come to their senses and accept that they’ll have to give Prescott whatever he wants, which is reportedly a shorter deal than Jerry Jones is willing to offer.
#Cowboys fans should know this: the entire negotiation argument with Dak boils down to the “5 years” aspect of what Dallas wants. This fight is 4 yrs vs 5 yrs. If that’s not a situation that can be worked out by July 15, I don’t know what is. Yet both are standing firm. For now. https://t.co/CTyR5bEk3k
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) May 9, 2020
There seem to be two sides to this debate: There are those people who understand that Prescott is one of the very best quarterbacks in the league and should be paid as such. And then there are those people who … are just wrong.
Okay, that was a bit dismissive of the Prescott skeptics, but they’ve been using the same tired arguments for years now so I don’t know if they deserve more attention. You know the arguments…
Ezekiel Elliott makes things easier for him!
He plays behind the best offensive line in the league!
He should take a team-friendly deal to help the front office build around him!
I’ve tackled all of these arguments in the past, but let’s take another crack at it…
- Elliott’s presence in the backfield doesn’t seem to have any effect on how defenses play the Cowboys, and Prescott’s performance does not seem to be affected by how many defenders are stuffed into the box. Per Sports Info Solutions, Prescott attempted 61.3% of his passes against single-high coverages, which allow the defense to get an extra run defender in the box. That ranked 22nd among qualified quarterbacks in 2019. He averaged 0.18 EPA per pass attempt against single-high coverages and 0.20 EPA per attempt against two-high coverages.
- The Cowboys obviously have a good offensive line, but it’s been a few years since it was in the discussion for best in the NFL. At least in pass protection. In 2019, Dallas ranked 11th in ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate metric. The Cowboys finished outside of the top-10 in 2018, as well.
- The last argument — that Dak should take a cut in pay to help the front office build around him — is, by far, the silliest. Prescott has been the league’s biggest bargain for the last four years, costing the team just $2.7 million TOTAL. What did the Cowboys do with all that money they saved? Not much. From 2016 to 2018, they spent just under $50 million in free agency, one of the lowest numbers in the league over that time.
This doesn’t need to be complicated. Prescott has established himself as a true franchise quarterback over the last four years. And just like every other franchise quarterback in need of a new deal, he should be paid market-resetting money.
Jerry, listen. You just tried to play hardball with a RUNNING BACK with no leverage and ended up caving and giving him record-breaking money. Do you really think this is going to work with a quarterback who just finished near the top of the league in almost every relevant passing metric?
Just cut the check already, Jerry. We all know where this is going.
An in the unlikely event that it doesn’t and the Cowboys aren’t willing to give into Prescott’s demands, some other team will be happy to do so.