DALLAS – Everyday life in the United States and particularly in the NFL had to change radically with the new reality that marked the pandemic for COVID-19 a year ago.
Almost everything has changed, from the way the teams prepared in the previous season’s recess, from the cancellation of preseason games to the format of the Playoffs before reaching the Super Bowl.
Everything changed except for one thing: the conversation about the situation between the Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott.
This week marks three years since Prescott and the Cowboys began talks about the possibility of granting the quarterback a contract extension for multiple seasons.
“There’s no way forward without any of the family members on this team. Dak is part of the Cowboys’ family, so it needs to be resolved,” said team owner Jerry Jones, the February 24, 2020, during the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, an event that was canceled in 2021 by the pandemic.
The deadline for the Cowboys to reach an agreement for a contract extension or to appoint Prescott as a franchise player began last Tuesday and ends on March 9th. Most likely, the label is with “exclusive rights,” because if Dallas uses the one that waives this exclusivity, it runs the risk of losing the pin or having to pay even more of the minimum claims than work team requests.
The vast majority of NFL analysts and former high-profile Cowboys players, as well as other teams, agree that if Prescott arrives in free agency on March 15, he will be the most coveted quarterback and would no longer be available. two days later.
If the Cowboys decided to designate themselves as a franchise player without exclusive rights, they would have a chance to match any offer they make to Prescott for him to remain on the team. Should they decide to let him go where he is most offered, the team that hires the pin would compensate the Cowboys with two first-round collegiate selections.
However, the option of leaving his quarterback unprotected is unthinkable in the Cowboys or at least that’s what Jones said a year ago.
“I’m not going to cede their rights in any way for a minute,” Jones assured during the Scouting Combine 2020, according to the team’s website.
Jones is convinced that Prescott will return perfectly recovered from the injury to his right ankle and leg that ended early in his season in the fifth game of 2020, when he played at his best as a professional, despite all the shortcomings suffered by the Cowboys on both sides of the ball.
Prescott, 27, already played with the franchise player label with exclusive rights in 2020, which resulted in a guaranteed $ 31.4 million profit.
If he plays in 2021 with the same designation, his salary will be about $ 37.7 million also guaranteed and reflected 100 percent in the $ 180 million salary cap, already announced by the NFL.
If the Cowboys label Prescott with exclusive rights, they will have until July to negotiate with him the already legendary multi-year contract. This contract would help the Cowboys breathe in the salary cap, because the money, including the bonus to sign the contract, will be divided into the longevity of the arrangement.
Whatever happens, the Cowboys will have to rearrange or restructure the contracts of several players to have the way to label or reach a multi-year agreement with Prescott, as until Wednesday, February 24, 2021, they did not have the sufficient space at the boundary by the Prescott agreement.
“(The quarterbacks) are the owners of the franchise,” Troy Aikman, a former Cowboys quarterback and member of the Hall of Fame, said in January. “They have to be the ones who actually establish the culture and responsibility within the team and if you don’t have the right type in that position, then you’re actually going to have problems as an organization.
“In my opinion, Dak ticks all the boxes well. That’s why I’ve said in recent years that I wouldn’t hesitate to pay him,” Aikman ruled.