Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is in line for a big payday one way or the other.
Prescott can choose to test free agency next offseason thanks to his contract structure, but he is also free to stay with the Cowboys if he desires.
Jason Fitzgerald from Over The Cap recently appeared on The Ross Tucker Podcast and said that Prescott is first in line to cross the $60 million mark. He also questioned the worthiness of such a big investment.
If he were to make the jump from $40 million to $60 million, Prescott would be getting a 50 percent raise.
Even for a player as qualified as Prescott, a 50 percent raise at the midpoint of any career with few additional brand-new responsibilities and tasks is unconventional in the United States. However, the rules are different for quarterbacks.
As the most important position in sports, quarterbacks can ruin any game plan with their turnovers. Consequently, they also touch the ball more than any other position except the center. Centers, however, are not tasked with throwing darts between and over defenders with mere inches to spare.
Dak Prescott’s contract situation leaves Cowboys QB with rare options
As such, with a no-tag and no-trade clause in his court, Prescott holds all of the cards. He can pressure Jones into paying him top dollar, or he can take his services elsewhere on the open market.
With competitive quarterbacks seemingly getting rarer over the years since Patrick Mahomes’ arrival, the open market is setting up to be a potential feeding frenzy for Prescott. Assuming the market works as intended, a half-dozen teams will automatically have interest. Prescott will be able to cherry-pick the highest bidder.
On the other hand, Prescott also will have the power to take less money to play in a part of the country that he desires. Additionally, he will have the ability to march between teams and report his offers, leveraging more money out of the teams in the sweepstakes.
Of course, whatever team ends up paying him will leave much less money for surrounding talent. Not long after Mahomes received his blockbuster $450 million deal, Tyreek Hill was traded to the Miami Dolphins.
In turn, no matter where Dak Prescott ends up, that team may be mathematically forced to move their talent elsewhere to cut costs.
