Dallas Cowboys Reportedly Won’t Pull Franchise Tag Off Dak Prescott

While Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys haven’t been able to come to an agreement on a contract extension, the team reportedly has no interest in withdrawing the franchise tag from the quarterback. During a recent interview with Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, Cowboys president Stephen Jones made it clear the tag isn’t going to be pulled, no matter how the rest of the contract talks go.

Adam Wells of Bleacher Report wrote a recent article detailing Jones’ reasoning for sticking to his guns in regards to the signal-caller.

“Dak’s going to be our quarterback this year. He’s our quarterback for the future. We think the world of him. He represents our franchise in a very positive way in terms of what we want as a leader of our team. He’s just an outstanding man, and we would never rescind the franchise tag.”

Wells points out there hasn’t been any indication the Cowboys were thinking about pulling the tag. At the same time, the NFL’s CBA does allow teams to pull back if they want. In recent years, teams that do pull a franchise tag off a player do so because they believe there is no chance a longer deal can be worked out. The most recent case of this is from 2016 when the Carolina Panthers rescinded their tagging of defensive back Josh Norman.

Then Panthers GM Dave Gettleman said he made the move because the two sides weren’t going to agree on a longer contract. Norman became an unrestricted free agent once the tag was pulled. He eventually signed a five-year contract with the Washington Redskins.

One reason the Cowboys are said to want a longer deal with Prescott is because of what the franchise tag will cost them. Prescott’s current one year deal will pay him just over $31 million dollars. If the team has to put the tag on him again next year, they’ll need to pay at least $38 million. Paying the quarterback $69 million over two years would reportedly severely limit any other moves they might want to make.

However, if recent reports of a long term deal paying Prescott $35 million per year are accurate, the Cowboys wouldn’t be saving significant money in the next two seasons. The potential price tag for their star quarterback, as well as the team signing Andy Dalton as his backup, has some thinking the team could shelve talks entirely and move on from their QB1. Former Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant has said he believes Dalton’s signing could be bad news for Prescott.