Dak Prescott finally has a new deal with the Dallas Cowboys. We can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Dallas will not have to worry about the most important position in sports for the foreseeable future.

Prescott's contract will pay him $160 million over a four-year period, an average of $40 million per year. The deal can get up to $164 million, bringing the average up to $42 million.

This will surely impact other quarterbacks around the league. The 2018 draft class — Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson — will soon be up for contract extension negotiations. Their respective teams will be sitting in the same position as the Cowboys were the last few offseasons.

Mayfield has had an up-and-down start to his NFL career. His rookie season was stellar, as was his most recent stretch. He has had some struggles in Cleveland, but he did lead the Browns to the playoffs. It seems like a safe bet the former number one overall pick will get a second deal with the franchise that drafted him.

Allen started off on the wrong foot in Buffalo. Some questioned why he was a top-10 pick, and the early returns backed up those concerns. However, Allen has improved greatly with wide receiver Stefon Diggs in town. That is similar to Prescott's turnaround when the Cowboys traded for Amari Cooper.

The Wyoming product led the Buffalo Bills to an impressive 2020 campaign and is a big reason why the Bills appear to be the Chiefs' biggest challenger in the AFC. His size, athletic ability, and arm strength makes him a unique weapon in the NFL. It is only a matter of time until Buffalo rewards him.

Jackson already has an MVP under his belt, something that the other two cannot say. The Louisville product took the league by storm in 2019 after flashing down the stretch of his rookie campaign. Jackson did take a slight step back in 2020, but he is one of the special talents at the position in the world. Baltimore is committed to building around the 32nd pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Why Prescott's deal will impact the upcoming quarterback deals.

Dallas ended up making this deal more expensive than what it could have been had they worked out a deal with Prescott a few offseasons ago. Instead, the Cowboys let the Eagles, Rams, Chiefs, and Texans beat them to the punch. All four paid their quarterbacks new contracts before the Cowboys paid their own.

That, in turn, influenced how much money Dallas would have to pay Dak Prescott. The franchise tag, which would have paid Prescott nearly $38 million in 2021, also played a role in setting a number for this deal.

With Mayfield, Allen, and Jackson now eligible for second contracts, the price for a franchise quarterback is only going to rise. Therefore, it was important for the Cowboys to work out a deal with Prescott before either of those three ink their new deals.

It seems unlikely that anybody will exceed — or even reach — the deal that the Chiefs made with Mahomes. However, there is a real possibility that agents will use some of Prescott's contract — be it total money, guaranteed money, or signing bonus — as a starting point for their own clients.

The going rate for top-10 quarterback play is not going down anytime soon. It is only going to rise more and more as the salary cap grows when the new television contracts kick in.

Prescott's record-setting deal will eventually look like a steal once other teams around the league pay their guy.

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