The Dallas Cowboys have until March 9th to franchise tag Dak Prescott. If they fail to sign Prescott to a long-term deal beforehand, Dak will have a clear path toward free agency in 2022 and his future as a Cowboy will be in jeopardy.

Today, I've prepared three contract options the Cowboys could offer Dak's camp. Without further ado, let's get to them.

Disclaimer: This post is more about the concepts behind each contract than it is about the numbers themselves. One is your regular contract offer while two are out-of-the-box alternatives the Cowboys should consider. 

The one we've all discussed

• Contract Lenght: 4 Years
• Total value: $166 million
• Average per year: $41.5 million
• Fully guaranteed: $85 million

Prescott wants a short-term deal and that's been made clear by now. This is a contract similar to Deshaun Watson's but with some differences. The average per year is slightly up from Watson's $39.5M given it's been one year since said deal and Watson didn't have as much leverage as Dak does now. For the same reason, Prescott gets $10M more in fully-guaranteed money than Watson.

This is the boring contract offer the Cowboys could put on the table. The one we all hope is good enough to keep Dak Prescott in the long-term. The problem is, Prescott's leverage lies in the value of his upcoming potential tags. If he wishes to and the Dallas Cowboys don't budge on several key points, it'll be hard to get a deal done.

On Dak Prescott, the QB market is IRRELEVANT to his leverage. His leverage is $37.68M under the tag this year, and $54.25M (franchise), $45.21M (transition), or open market in 2022. Cowboys will need to make him an offer that gets him to give that up.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 3, 2021

Cousins Style: Fully-guaranteed deal

• Contract Lenght: 3 Years
• Total value: $123 million
• Average per year: $41 million
• Fully guaranteed: $123 million

Kirk Cousins made history in 2018 when he signed the first-ever fully guaranteed contract in the NFL while becoming the highest-paid player in the league. His three-year deal was worth $84M, averaging $28M per year.

At the time, there was no precedent for a fully-guaranteed contract in the NFL. But Cousins was in a unique position to land such a deal given 1) he'd proven to be one of the league's top quarterbacks and 2) he was a free agent QB in his prime. Dak Prescott isn't a free agent, but with the March 9th deadline to franchise tag players so close, he has a clear path toward free agency in 2022 if the Dallas Cowboys tag him.

Cousins made history in terms of contract length as well, though. And Dak Prescott might want to make the Dallas Cowboys pay for it. Last year, Prescott's camp was clear on their intentions of signing a four-year deal instead of the Cowboys' five-year offer. After playing under the tag in 2020, Dak might be looking for a three-year deal to hit free agency in 2024 as he planned to last season.

As Jerry Jones said, Prescott has all the leverage in this negotiation. If both the Dallas Cowboys and Prescott know this, proposing a fully-guaranteed deal might sweeten the negotiations.

Mahomes Style: 10-year mega-contract

• Contract length: 10 years
• Total value: $400 million
• Average per year: $40 million
• Fully guaranteed: $60 million

So the Dallas Cowboys aren't used to giving "short" extensions. Well, the TV deals are coming and the salary cap will keep growing and growing after a little hiccup this season. Dak Prescott might not agree to a five-year extension, but maybe it's worth thinking out-of-the-box and going the route the Kansas City Chiefs did.

Of course, a disclaimer is due. Even if you're bullish on Dak Prescott like I am and see him as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, he is no Patrick Mahomes. There isn't a player that has done what Mahomes has done in his first three years as an NFL starting quarterback. That much is clear. But he's one of the best young quarterbacks in the league and he's proven to be "franchise quarterback" material.

What the Chiefs accomplished with Mahomes' 10-year deal is having Mahomes locked in for a long, long time. They managed to structure Mahomes' deal as a back-loaded deal including a $60 million cap hit in 2027. It's a deal Mahomes is unlikely to play out before reaching multiple restructures and adjustments.

Mahomes is strongly protected under his deal, though. If the Chiefs were to release him, they'd have to pay him his entire salary for the upcoming season (i.e. if they were to release him in 2026, they'd have to pay him his 2027 salary as well).

This would be a strong gamble for the Dallas Cowboys, of course. But if they want to keep Prescott, thinking out-of-the-box is a must. It's time to shoot the best offers.

Featured Image Via Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports