Cowboys: Dak Prescott's contract restructure foreshadows an extension
Recent Cowboys’ news will likely translate into one of the biggest moves the team can make this offseason.
Both the Dallas Cowboys and the front office have hinted at it publicly: Quarterback Dak Prescott is likely to receive a contract extension in 2023.
"With Stephen (Jones) on it, it may just happen overnight," Prescott told Dallas Morning News reporters earlier this month.
Recent news around the team almost feels like confirmation of the quarterback's words.
The Cowboys opened up $30 million in cap space by restructuring Prescott's and Zack Martin's deals. Of that number, $22 million were made possible by Dak's situation.
Let's get into a quick financial breakdown to better explain why the contract restructure sets up the Cowboys and Prescott for a contract extension this year.
- The Cowboys converted $29 million of Prescott's $31 million salary for 2023 into a signing bonus. The bonus is prorated throughout the length of the quarterback's deal instead of fully counting toward the cap this year.
- As a result, Prescott's cap number for this year went from $49 million to $27 million.
- That number comes from a $2M salary + $25M in prorated bonuses.
- The move pushed up Prescott's cap number for 2024 to a whopping $59 million, however.
- That last number is difficult to work with for obvious reasons. Thus, expect a contract extension that helps the Cowboys lower that future cap number.
A new contract extension would allow the Cowboys to keep the cap number of the quarterback on the low end of things for the next few years.
The restructure buys the Cowboys and Prescott some time, but it's in the team's best interest to extend their quarterback. Not only has he proven to be the team's franchise QB but his contract was designed to keep kicking the can down the road.
NFL teams use signing bonuses to delay the salary cap impact of a player's contract until the very end and are usually a problem only if the team parts ways with the player. In that case, it's the dead money* that can become an issue.
*Note: Dead money is defined as the salary cap space that an unrostered player occupies.
Although his contract is currently set to expire following the 2024 NFL season, expect the Cowboys to be led by Dak Prescott for much, much longer.
