Dak Prescott and the 10 options Cowboys have for quarterback in 2021

Breaking down every single option for the Cowboys at QB in 2021, even the ridiculous ones.

There’s a lot of hand wringing, slow singing and flower bringing when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys’ failure to secure a long-term agreement with Big Poppa, their quarterback Dak Prescott. Like refusing to listen to the fourth of the 10 Crack Commandments, Jerry and Stephen Jones have been getting high on their own supply, figuratively of course, believing they don’t have to pay market value for a franchise quarterback.

We already know the Jones’ are out of pocket when it comes to the underrated Rule 7, failing to keep family and business separated. They’ve also failed at Rule 2, because they’ve done nothing but let everyone know they plan on signing Prescott, but the deal isn’t done yet. So where does the organization go from here? They are going to need a QB for Week 1 and like B.I.G.’s notorious warning, we have 10 possibilities for how things could play out in the state with rolexes, the Lexus and Texas license plates.

Today’s a perfect day to sign Dak. And if not today, then tomorrow.

I’ve talked about this topic for so long, I actually sat out the last several months of conversation and I still probably lead the league in conversations about Prescott and his yet-to-be-signed new contract. In 2018 I suggested Prescott should have been paid $29 million a season once his contract could be renewed in 2019. In 2019 once it was possible to sign him, I again thought $29 million was the adequate rate.

Then the 2020 season happened. Despite Dallas’ shortcoming as a team, Prescott ascended in Kellen Moore’s offense under Jason Garrett’s regime and $29 million looked like it would have been an incredible deal. Of course the market developed around him, as expected, with draft classmates Jared Goff and Carson Wentz surpassing $32 million averages in their extensions. Still, no deal for Prescott. 2020 came and Prescott played on the franchise tag while DeShaun Watson neared and Patrick Mahomes surpassed the $40 million a year plateau.

So now it’s 2021 and thanks to a record-setting pace before a Week 5 injury and the subsequent suckiness that were the QB performances in his absence, Prescott has more leverage than before. The Cowboys can technically sign Prescott at any point, but because Dallas is Dallas, they will likely wait until the 2021 salary cap is announced so that they can structure the specifics of the deal around the reductions in cap space they’ll have to absorb.

In the meantime, the NFL quarterback carousel has been set ablaze. Multiple quarterbacks have either retired or hinted at it. Multiple quarterbacks have demanded a trade from their current organization. Other quarterbacks have said they want out without officially saying it. It’s a topsy turvy world and because the Cowboys are the Cowboys, they of course are front and center in every rumor put out there.

One needs a cheat sheet to keep track of it all. Don’t worry fam, we got you.

Here’s the various scenarios that Dallas could undertake, spanning the realistic to the perplexing to the ridiculous. We lay it all out.