The Dallas Cowboys, as we all know, were unable to reach a long-term contract extension with Dak Prescott this offseason.
Ultimately, how close was that deal to getting done?
“It was close in September [2019], and it never really got close again,” 105.3 The Fan Cowboys insider Mike Fisher said on The Zach Gelb Show. “The Cowboys came out of training camp in August offering him what they were calling a top-five-quarterback-money deal – and it was that. But it was also five years. And Dak Prescott, maybe wisely, had an understanding that the NFL TV contract is going to expire after the 2022 season and that I want a bite of that apple as soon as I can get it. That’s part of the reason that that deal fell apart at that time, and then the Cowboys just never budged on the five years and Dak Prescott wanted the shorter-term deal.”
The Cowboys reportedly offered Prescott a contract worth $35 million annually, which included over $100 million in guaranteed money.
“That doesn’t seem ridiculous,” Fisher said. “That’s not insulting. In fact, now we’re talking about Russell Wilson money, really – and Dak Prescott’s never accomplished a Russell Wilson-level thing. But I still think the two sides do have faith in each other. Maybe they like each other and not love each other. Maybe that’s fair. They’ll sit down and do this dance again next year. It better get done for the sake of the Cowboys next year because the third tag would be $54 million. By the time you’ve written him checks for 31, 38 and 54, you might as well have just given him whatever he wanted in the first place.”
Prescott, a fourth-round pick in 2016, has had some good moments and some not-so-good moments for the Cowboys. He’s led the franchise to the playoffs twice but has never advanced past the divisional round. Last year, he threw for 4,902 yards and 30 touchdowns – both career-highs – but the Cowboys finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs.
Can Prescott win a Super Bowl in Dallas?
“Oh, absolutely,” Fisher said. “We’ve seen Joe Flacco win Super Bowls. We’ve seen Trent Dilfer win Super Bowls. So what decent quarterback couldn’t win a Super Bowl on the right team? I think the better question is can he be one of the best players on a Super Bowl team? And I think that answer is yes. They really have been a fingernail – and this is under Tony Romo as well – a fingernail away from a big win here or a big win there that would have propelled them up. This offense is not what’s going to hold the Cowboys back from winning a Super Bowl. It’ll be the other side of the ball.”
While some analysts love Prescott and think he’s elite, others do not. Is Prescott a top-10 quarterback?
“I can’t remember anybody who had a wider range of reviews of him,” said Fisher, who has covered the Cowboys for 30 years. “I don’t know exactly where I rank him, but I will say this: he’s special for this team. The difficulty you would have replacing him on this team – unless you want to hand it over to Andy Dalton – he is revered in his locker room and was almost instantly. He was, along with Jason Witten, anointed just by the virtue of his presence as a leader in this locker room right away. So he's got 52 other guys in the building who absolutely think he’s a top-whatever quarterback – top five or top three or top nine or whatever it is. If 52 other guys believe you are, then maybe that’s good enough.”