National Football League

No Deadline Deal for Dak

Updated Jul. 17, 2020 12:49 a.m. ET

Dak Prescott will play the 2020-21 season on the franchise tag, after the deadline for Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys to agree to a long-term deal passed on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.

Despite a reported last gas effort, the two sides were not able to come to an agreement, meaning Prescott will earn $31.4 million next season and the Cowboys cannot negotiate with Prescott again until January 2021.

On Tuesday, NFL insider Adam Schefter further elaborated on the negotiations, what he anticipated moving forward, and why the Cowboys could find themselves in a challenging position in the near future.

"There are no scheduled talks before Wednesday's deadline. That doesn't mean there can't be a last minute push from each side, but there doesn't appear to me any sense of urgency to do that right now ... which is hard to imagine in Dallas' case."

On June 22, Prescott signed the exclusive franchise tag tender worth $31.4 million, which locked him in for the season, ensuring he would not miss any time on the field.

Since Prescott became eligible for a contract extension earlier this year, negotiations have been ongoing. All reports suggest that the two sides have been quarreling over the number of years in the contract as opposed to the number of dollars.

Prescott wants to hit the free agent market again in four years, while Dallas wants to lock its QB in for five years.

Dak made a little over $2 million in the final year of his rookie deal, and he's brought in less than $5 million since he entered the league in 2016.

Prescott entered last season apparently looking to enhance those numbers through his play, considering the 2019 season was the best of his career. He had career highs in passing yards (4,902) and touchdown passes (30), and his QBR of 70.2 was 4th best in the league.

And because of his impressive 2019 campaign, ESPN's Marcus Spears believes that he has leverage if he hits free agency after this season.

"Dak Prescott is in a position of leverage to me now ... The only leverage that an NFL player has is your performance and the opportunity to hit the open market, and Dak Prescott is trending in that direction if he doesn't get a long-term deal done."

Coming into the 2020 season, the Cowboys have a wide array of weapons on the offensive side of the ball, coming off a season when they led the NFL in total offense (431.5 yards per game).

Wide receivers Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup each went over 1,000 yards receiving, and Prescott came within one yard of tying Tony Romo‘s single-season Cowboys passing record.

And with the 17th pick in this year's draft, Dallas added Oklahoma superstar wideout CeeDee Lamb.

Lamb will don the famous No. 88 once the season begins, meaning the Cowboys expect big things out of the rookie.

Add Ezekiel Elliott into the mix, and former NFL running back Brian Westbrook believes that Dak's value will only increase with another year on the field, considering the weapons he has at his disposal.

"If you're Dak and you started 64 straight games and you bet on yourself, including last year ... And now you're saying, 'Last year, I put up great numbers, but this year I get a better and more offensively-inclined coach in Mike McCarthy. Now I'm more of a value.'"

However, with the added offensive depth, Prescott might have even more pressure on his shoulders to take the Cowboys deep into the playoffs, considering last season, despite Dak's individual success, the Cowboys struggled, finishing 8-8 and missing the playoffs.

Because of the Cowboys' underwhelming campaign in 2019, Colin Cowherd believes Dak doesn't have the upper hand in any negotiations.

"I've never understood this, 'He's got all the leverage.' ... This is not Tom Brady leaving New England. If Dak left, you're not losing excellence. You're not losing history. You're not losing momentum. There's no momentum right now."

Prescott will now play out the season on the franchise tag before negotiations can resume with Dallas at the top of the year.

Until January...