The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott couldn’t agree on a long-term deal by Wednesday’s deadline, which means the quarterback will play the 2020 NFL season with the exclusive $ 31.4 million franchise tag. .
Prescott joins 11 other NFL players who will play in the franchise in 2020, including AJ Green of Cincinnati, Justin Simmons of Denver, Yannick Ngakoue of Jacksonville, Joe Thuney of New England, Brandon Scherff of Washington, Hunter Henry of the Chargers from Los Angeles, Bud Dupree from Pittsburgh, New York Leonard Williams from the Giants, Anthony Harris from Minnesota, Matthew Judon from Baltimore and Shaquil Barrett from Tampa Bay.
A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Tennessee’s Derrick Henry struck a four-year, $ 50 million deal with the Titans that includes a guaranteed $ 25.5 million, the only player in the franchise to accept a long-term deal Wednesday. . The Chiefs’ Chris Jones agreed to a four-year contract Tuesday.
Green and Ngakoue were the only players who had not signed their franchise offers.
Wednesday’s deadline did not apply to Arizona’s Kenyan Drake, who was the only player designated under the transition tag. He is allowed to negotiate with the Cardinals throughout the season.
Since the franchise tag was implemented in 1993, the majority of players who play an entire season under the tag are nine (in 2009 and 2012), according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Cowboys organization and Prescott agent Todd France began negotiations on a multi-year deal in the spring of 2019, but were unable to close the gap to ensure the Cowboys have their quarterback beyond 2020.
The parties have had no substantive negotiations since March, when sources said the Cowboys submitted a bid worth $ 34.5 million a year, which would have been the second-highest average for a quarterback behind the Seattle Seahawks quarterback. Russell Wilson, and a guarantee on par with the $ 110 million given to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff.
Prescott guaranteed on June 22 that he would be at the start of training camp when he signed the tender. But even as the deadline approached this week, there was no additional sense of urgency to reach an agreement with both parties locked in their positions. The Cowboys wanted Prescott to sign an agreement of at least five years in duration, while France responded with offers of four years.
Prescott’s brother Tad posted on Twitter after the Wednesday deadline.
There’s a reason I was never a fan of @dallascowboys as a kid or before they wrote @dak after today, who knows how much longer I’ll be cheering for them.
– Tad Prescott (@ 86Prescott) July 15, 2020
And now it leaves open the possibility of Prescott leaving after this season or the 2021 season if the Cowboys reuse the franchise tag next year. Under franchise rules, the Cowboys and France can’t re-engage in multi-year conversations until after the 2020 season. If the Cowboys were to re-tag Prescott next season, it would cost nearly $ 38 million.
The coronavirus pandemic compounds the problems because the league’s 2021 salary cap may remain stable, or possibly decrease, which could lead the Cowboys to cut players or restructure contracts if they seek to label Prescott a second time.
Since the franchise system was established, only two quarterbacks have played the entire season on the label. Washington used it twice at Kirk Cousins (2016 and 2017) but never made an offer to Cousins at the ballpark of what the Cowboys offered Prescott. In 2005, Drew Brees played on the San Diego Chargers’ tag, but the Chargers had Philip Rivers, their 2004 first-round pick, waiting to take over.
In 2018, the Vikings signed Cousins with a fully guaranteed three-year deal worth $ 84 million while maximizing their earning potential by waiting.
Prescott, 26, could follow a similar path. He is the first quarterback to be tagged by the Cowboys, and Prescott will only be the fourth to play under the tag, joining Flozell Adams (2002), Anthony Spencer (2012 and 2013) and DeMarcus Lawrence (2018).
Adams and Lawrence signed long-term deals the year after they were tagged.
At the start of the 2019 season, the Cowboys thought they were approaching an extension with Prescott that would have placed him between Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz ($ 32 million) and Goff ($ 33.5 million), teammates. of the 2016 draft, in terms of average per year and a guarantee of about $ 100 million.
Prescott chose to wait and had his best statistical season with career highs in passing yards (4,902) and touchdown passes (30) in 2019. In his first three seasons, he had thrown no more than 3,885 yards or 23 touchdown passes.
He will prepare for his first season with new coach Mike McCarthy, who modified the offense but kept the same call on offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Prescott did not participate in the offseason virtual show, but did have some communication with the staff to get a little familiar with the terminology.
In the past 16 months, the Cowboys have signed Lawrence ($ 105 million), Amari Cooper ($ 100 million), Ezekiel Elliott ($ 90 million), Jaylon Smith ($ 64 million), and La’el Collins ($ 50 million) to lucrative extensions while trying to negotiate a for-profit settlement with Prescott.
While the $ 31.4 million under the Prescott label in 2020 is the highest salary in Cowboys team history, it was not what either side wanted through repeated expressions of desire to strike a long-term deal. term. Now they must wait again until 2021.
Green and the Bengals were unable to reach a deal before Wednesday’s deadline, and the veteran wide receiver is tentatively slated to play the 2020 season with a one-year contract worth $ 17.9 million.
Even before the pandemic ran out of cash stocks around the league, Green and the Bengals had been tending toward a short-term deal.
The seven-time Pro Bowl player has not finished three of the past four seasons due to injuries. In 2019, Green did not play a single hit after tearing multiple ligaments in his left ankle during the first practice of the preseason. Going back to the 2018 season, Green has missed 23 of the last 24 games.
However, when he is healthy, Green has been one of the most productive players in the NFL. From the time he entered the league in 2011 through 2018, Green ranked fourth in total receiving yards with 8,907, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The 2011 first-round pick was a key weapon for a franchise that ran five consecutive playoff races from 2011 to 2015.
ESPN’s Ben Baby contributed to this report.
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