Dak Prescott "Lost" In Others' Quarterback Drama, One NFL Exec Says

Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott — Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott & QB Dak Prescott

The era of the superstar is in full swing around the NFL, with quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson each reportedly looking to get out of their current situations. But while the drama circling two of the league’s best signal callers continues, it feels to some that Dak Prescott is getting lost in the shuffle.

One NFL Executive told The Athletic’s Mike Sando that Prescott “is kind of lost in this” while “everyone else is complaining.”

Prescott has been the quietest of these three star quarterbacks, but by no means should he be lost at all. He arguably has the brightest future of any of the three, and would be a welcomed upgrade at quarterback for about 95% of the league. Bleacher Report Names Cowboys 10th Best Landing Spot For Deshaun Watson

Prescott’s situation is different from that of a Watson or Wilson, though. Unlike those guys, he is an unrestricted free agent currently, meaning that unless he gets the franchise tag he will be able to freely choose his next destination. Both Wilson and Watson already signed their “franchise quarterback” contracts, which they are now each reportedly trying to get out of.

Let’s be real, though. Unless an almost unprecedented tag and trade deal is worked out Dak Prescott is going to be a Cowboy in 2021. He has all the leverage here, and the Cowboys lack any sort of viable backup plan if they were to lose him for this season.

Of course, Dak Prescott is coming off of a severe ankle injury that ended his 2020 campaign prematurely, but assuming he is ready to go for 2021 he should be back among the best quarterbacks in football.

He may not be making the public noise that some of his peers are, but Dak Prescott’s contract situation is definitely being closely monitored by NFL front offices.

And if the Cowboys aren’t careful, those same front offices will begin to swoop in to steal their franchise quarterback as soon as they can.

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Kevin Brady

Die-hard Cowboys fan from the Northeast, so you know I am here to defend the 'boys whenever necessary. Began writing for a WordPress Cowboys Blog, and have been with ITS since 2016.

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40 Comments

Manuel 5 years ago

People fail to remember Dak was a 4th round pick and has been paid as such. Mahomes, Tannehill, Goff, Wentz were all first round picks and getting paid according to their draft status. Dak outplayed his draft status and definitely what he has been paid for the first four years. Dak didn’t set the QB market, other owners have with what they paid their QB’s. Dak has earned market value. But the root issue isn’t really if Dak deserves it, the root issue is the piss poor management by the unqualified GM, who just happens to be the owner too. They’ve had well above average QB play at a drastically discounted price...and what did they do??? Overpaid for a RB(Elliot), LB (Smith), OL (Collins); just ridiculous financial maneuvers. Also remember Dak was willing to sign last off- season on a 4 year deal, it was the GM and his son in their ignorance that were adamant about having a 5 year deal. Now they’ve dug themselves in a hole with their stupidity. The smart move for Dak would be to decline every contract offer they present unless it’s precisely what he wants. If it’s not, play on the franchise tag for $37-$39 mil; and get your free agent contract next season. Dak has all the leverage, you can’t fault him for the organization relying on a remedial GM. It isn’t our QB that is sub-standard, our owner/GM and football operations are.
1. John Williams 5 years ago
  
  Sir. If the Cowboys tag Dak this year and he plays on it, he will get $37.7 million. The Cowboys could then, theoretically, give Dak Prescott the third franchise tag. That tag would be worth a little more than $54 million. So that would be around $94 million guaranteed the next two years. He won’t play this year on the tag cause the Cowboys will get him signed long-term. Secondly. No. Andy Dalton is not a better quarterback. Wins and losses are a team stat. You failed to discuss how terrible the defense was in the first five games of the season. Thinking any quarterback can “carry” a team is mistaken. Football is the ultimate team sport. It literally takes 53 guys to win games. Have a nice day
Jeffrey D Williams 5 years ago

First off, in response to John Williams's lack of football knowledge, Dallas has only one more opportunity to use a Franchise Tag on Dak so your "$98 million" is based upon your erroneous assumption. Secondly, Dak just is not worth the money, it would be better to let him walk and try for Wilson or, Rodgers. If those two options are not available then draft a QB with the 10th pick and keep Dalton to run the team this year. Over Dak's last eight games, versus Dalton's eight games with the Cowboys; Dalton has a better QBR/Win-loss record than Dak. I do not care about passing yards or TD-Int ratio, I care about wins and Dak has been on a steady decline since his rookie season (Dak is 1-7 in his last eight games and the win was by one point). Bottom line; Dak cannot carry this team but he wants to be paid as if he can. If Dallas does sign him you might as well right off the next XX years as there will be absolutely no money to do anything but sign draft picks as Dallas has mangled their fiscal responsibilities to the point where signing Dak takes them over the cap WITHOUT any money left to sign draft picks (so get ready for better players to be cut) and it would put them $25.5 million over the cap for next year so more players will be cut loose like; Elliot, Gallup, Vander Esch, and CeeDee Lamd in three years, just to name a few.
Gary b 5 years ago

Damn the first post took forever to post so reposted it again.
Gary b 5 years ago

Throwupthex88- Browns FO and fan's are unsure whether Mayfield is the guy. Show me year coming up for him.
Gary b 5 years ago

Throwup- Actually the Browns FO and fan's are not at all sure Mayfield is the guy. A show me year for him.
Gary b 5 years ago

Throwupthex88- Which one do you think will last longer- ur proclamation to avoid Dak contract talk or sleeping with the (CHIEFS) Lol. Yes any team besides the cowboys is the enemy as far as I'm concerned my friend. Incidentally A-ROD was one of the greatest talents to ever play the game but he'll have to take a seat way in the back to the GOAT. Brady's legacy was already cemented many times over as the GOAT- Then he doubles down and wins a SB with completely new team at 43. And he might not be done. I bow down to him that's a bad boy right there.
ThrowuptheX88 5 years ago

AND EAGLES DIDN'T THINK WENTZ OR QB WOULD BE A PROBLEM WHEN THEY PAID HIM I don't get why Dak will be the exception , but i guess that's COWBOY'S FANS FOR YA , ALWAYS DELUSIONAL AND BELIEVE EVERY YEAR IS YOUR YEAR
Pistol 5 years ago

Agreed Dak is class act. Appears to be a great leader as well. However the last 5 big money contracts - Wentz and Goff traded, Watson and Wilson disgruntled. Only Mahomes seems worth the money. If paid where will Dak fall in place in two years. High risk - not even reward across the board so far with these guys. I do not think Jerry is that great of a GM but he is one helluva business man. I am sure he is paying attention to what is going on with all of these QB situations.. When Zeke and Cooper are cap casualties and can`t afford to resign Michael Gallup what will he be left with. Not even including Smith and Collins on offensive line
ThrowuptheX88 5 years ago

To those who think Baker is a top 10 QB or EVEN CLOSE , I suggest looking at this year's Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum in his best year You don't have to have a elite QB to make playoffs , you do need one if you gonna go to a SB , but there lies the problem Jerry as you guys will agree , he's incapable of being a winning GM especially a SB GM unless our QB is just TRANSCENDENT , as much as you guys like Dak , is he TRANSCENDENT ? No , I don't think so , so unless he is , then i ain't paying him , I'm going to a rookie , doesn't matter who it is , and build a team around him with all that saved cap on rookie deal , and see what happens , even if he isn't that good , we can still be good and GET EXACT SAME RESULTS AS WE WOULD WITH DAK either that or I'm going for a Russ trade who proved he can win games with this same crappy O-Line and crappy D , AS MUCH AS YOU GUYS LIKE DAK YOU CAN'T SIT HERE AND TELL ME DAK CAN WIN GAMES WITH THIS CRAPPY D OR O-LINE ,BUT RUSS HAS PROVEN THAT HE CAN IN SEATTLE ANYWAYS , THIS IS THE DUMBEST CONVERSATION I'VE BEEN A PART OF , EVEN DUMBER THAN MY FRIEND TRYNA MAKE A CASE FOR A-ROD BEING BETTER THAN BRADY I'M OUT ON THIS WEBSITE ANYWAYS , MAYBE OUT AS A FAN , PROBABLY GONNA JOIN KC BANDWAGON , THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN , UNLIKE THIS LOSER ORGANIZATION
ThrowuptheX88 5 years ago

Gary b , RIDDLE ME THIS , Is Baker Mayfield a top 10 QB ? He made playoffs last year right ? We won 10 games with Bledsoe right ? We won 9 games with Carter right ? It just blows my mind that we acting like Dak is the forthcoming of Jesus himself and he gonna save our team
Steven 5 years ago

Dak needs to take less money so they can make some move on the defense side. He has the Offense just need to get a couple lineman. But the defense is were we really need help on. So he needs to take less money. So they can sure up the defense and go win a Super Bowl. Without making the defense better you’re not gonna win the Super Bowl or at that point when the division.
ThrowuptheX88 5 years ago

Gary b , it is a team sport , all I'm saying is that this SORRY ASS DEFENSE AND SORRY ASS O LINE YOU GUYS KEEP REFERRING TO , EVERYONE DEALS WITH THAT WHEN YOU PAY TOP QB MONEY , Mahomes did , and he got to SB , Russ did for the most part this year and got to playoffs, EVEN IF YOU PPL THINK HE'S AS GOOD AS D WATSON "which he isn't " WHAT DO YOU DIPS HAVE AN ANSWER FOR HOW WE GONNA BETTER THAN TEXANS WERE LAST YEAR WHO PAID WATSON ? OHHHH , NOW JERRY GONNA SAVE OUR TEAM'S ASS RIGHT ? NOPE , YOU GUYS TRASH HIM AND SAY HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING so now he gonna be the solution for us not being like Texans ? You don't judge other positions by wins , cuz OF YOUR QB YOU CAN BE A HOFER AND STILL NOT EVEN WIN MUCH OR GET A SB WIN CUZ YOU'RE QB SUCKS "Terrell Owens " but you do judge QB s by winning, that's why Brady is considered GOAT "Though he does have other stats " and not Aaron Rodgers , and before Brady , Montana was considered the GOAT with his 4-0 in SBs over say Dan Marino , or Elway THERE'S QBS WHO WIN CUZ OF THEIR SITUATION , AND THERE'S QBS WHO WIN IN SPITE OF THEIR SITUATION all I'm saying is Dak is a guy who when you put him with a good team , yes you can win with , to a certain degree, but when he's getting paid top dollar and you already paying top dollar for other guys too , YOU SEE THE RESULTS 8-8 , 1-3 Anyways I'm about done listening to you guys anyways , you can't see Dak for what he is , HE'S ANOTHER TONY ROMO and for those who wants to win SBs, you ain't winning with Romo, it'll look good , team will look good , but you won't get there
Gary b 5 years ago

Wins/losses are a TEAM thing. 52 players on the roster determine that along with coaching and a little luck. That's the bottom line. Do the WRs or RBs or TEs or Tackles or LBs or CBs or Safeties or any other position player get judged solely on win/losses?
Robert 5 years ago

It’s about wins. That’s the bottom line. Stats mean nothing. With Dak as the quarterback Cowboys have barely sniffed the playoffs. Facts are facts. His demands are ridiculous. Draft quarterback in this quarterback heavy draft and sign to team friendly rookie contract. Then spend the money saved by signing some free agent defensive players, particularly on a great cornerback. Cowboys can’t rebuild their pathetic defense otherwise and without a good solid defense, Cowboys are going nowhere.
Gary b 5 years ago

And while I'm on a roll. Look at many of the disgruntled QBs in the league right now that wanna be GMs and dictate to their teams prima donna (Wilson /Rodgers) Even Watson is making threats and forcing his way out of Houston. DAK never makes threats. Has never even insinuated he might hold out. Never bad mouths the team. Always carries himself with class. Tremendous leader who is supremely respected by his teammates. But some impy it's an act to elicit goodwill from the fans? Couldn't be that he's just a class act that's a great representative of the star right? Sheesh some people never appreciate when they got it good.
Gary b 5 years ago

They have no plan for the QB situation John that's just it. They wanna get rid of Dak then delude themselves into thinking we can just go out and get a top 7-8 QB that easy. No real sense of how we would go about that at all. No business plan no real thought into what a back up plan would look like. Just GET RID OF DAK. It's lazy thinking is what it is. You have to have at minimum a top ten QB if you hope to be competitive in this league at all. Dak is most certainly that with room for improvement. The chance of us finding that somewhere else is not good. Jerry could have signed him for less last year and the year before - and now we have to pay him a little more than he's probably worth. Now it will be up to Jerry to put on his big boy GM pants get him signed already and build the team around him. Draft well - Hold ur coaching staff accountable and start making better personnel moves.
Kyle 5 years ago

The fact you said "He arguably has the brightest future of any of the three, and would be a welcomed upgrade at quarterback for about 95% of the league." is so laughable and you should be fired. As a diehard Cowboys fan there aren't 1/2 the teams in the league that would take Dak over their current situation. Not for age, not for talent/skill, and ESPECIALLY not for the value behind what he is asking. Chiefs, Bucs, Packers, Bills, Ravens, Rams, Seahawks, Texans, Chargers, Cardinals, Browns, Jags (Trevor Lawrence), Bengals, Cardinals, Colts. ALSO, Watson is 2 years younger than Dak and is undoubtedly far superior than Dak. Also didn't break his leg last season so there's that. I'd like to speak to your boss because writing this even on Cowboys internal site is so comical you should be looking for a new job.
Pistol 5 years ago

Dak has brighter future than Watson??. In games he played last year - 12 TDs 4 picks and 3 lost fumbles. 7 Turnovers in 4 games (all should have been losses) - not good. In his last 20 games played he is 9-11 in the worst division in football with a ton of talent unlike Houston. Lets not forget 7-9 won division last year. Cowboys pay him behind Mahomes they will have to lose a lot of players then deal with what Russell Wilson is complaining about. This isn`t baseball or basketball with a cap and luxury tax. Cowboys offered him to be second highest paid QB at the tiime. Everything i read and see make out that Jerry offered him under market money. i say pay him what he wants and reap what you sow.
TO’sPopcorn 5 years ago

The reality is that Jerry should have already paid Dak, but instead paid Zeus, DLaw, Jaylon Smith and others ahead of him and these are the repercussions for that decision. However, you folks also seem to think there’s just a line out the door of teams waiting to pay a QB that just came off a serious ankle injury 43 million dollars a year.. there maybe a couple that would love to have him, but the reality is that many teams in need are struggling with the cap, or may have other cheaper options that are viable to how their team is structured. Dak ain’t going anywhere, he’s gonna get his asking price, and unless Will makes some stellar moves at draft he probably gonna get destroyed because our cap will be hurt and we need to shore up that d and o line.
redsoxu571 5 years ago

This Prescott situation has left a lot of fans unhappy...and this serves as a very interesting investigation into how easily people will buy into the first half-baked "fact" they hear about something when that fact serves their unhappiness. In the Prescott case: a LOT of Cowboy fans believe all kinds of negative things about him as a player that are either exaggerations of reality or just totally made up. He's not in the very elite, but he's a slam dunk young franchise QB who is still getting better...and yet many takes present him as worse than that, or look down on now valuable a QB of that level is.