Dak Prescott is smart to refuse a hometown discount

The Dallas Cowboys aren’t getting Dak Prescott on the cheap. And they shouldn’t be.

While fans of America’s Team will likely feel a bit jilted by Prescott saying he isn’t taking a hometown deal, the reality is stark in the NFL. A player has only so many years to collect. After that, it’s a bunch of non-guaranteed money tacked onto a contract bloated to be made more palatable for the agent’s ego.

Prescott, 25, is entering the final year of his rookie deal. He’s slated to earn $2.12 million this year, making him one of the league’s best bargains. The Cowboys aren’t running to give him an extra $10 million for his troubles, so why should the player be expected to help the team financially when a new deal gets struck?

For his part, Prescott told USA Today that with league revenues going up, why shouldn’t he and others around him strive to hit the top of the proverbial mark?

“For somebody to say you can only take so much because of the salary cap or you can only do this or that, I don’t know how fair that is to say. Because with gambling, with everything going into this league, everything is going to continue to keep going up.

“It’s important for all these guys to get every bit of their worth. I want to see Zeke the highest-paid. I want to see Amari the highest-paid. I want to see myself up there. And I don’t think any of that is too far-fetched. Because at the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, a year or two later, you’re not going to be the highest-paid. That’s just the way the game goes.”

Dallas is slated to have $74.57 million in cap space in 2020. However, the smart move for owner and general manager Jerry Jones is to get a deal done before camp breaks this summer. Why? Because if he waits on Prescott,  the franchise tag is all but inevitable. At that juncture, talented youngsters such as Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson will be negotiating their second deals. Carson Wentz and Jared Goff might be doing the same. Prescott would be wise to wait until those pacts are finished and made public, only driving up the quarterback market and thus, his demands.

The Cowboys are going to pay Prescott at some point, and regardless of whether he takes a little less than market value or a little more. Might as well make ’em pay.