As a safety measure to ensure nobody else gets to talk to Dak Prescott, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to use the exclusive franchise tag on their quarterback.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported Friday that the exclusive tag is expected to cost roughly $33 million, and that Dallas wants to work out a deal before the deadline.
This isn’t surprising in the least. Just Thursday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made his loyalty to Prescott as clear as possible by comparing him to family. Throughout the past year or so, he’s also expressed that Prescott will get a massive, long-term deal as soon as possible.
There are a couple of things that are holding up any potential long-term deal:
- First, the owners and players don’t even know what the 2020 salary cap will be because it’s not yet known whether they’ll be working with the current or proposed new CBA, which players are likely set to vote on next week.
- Secondly, Prescott himself has indicated he’s looking to push the envelope and set a new market for franchise quarterbacks.
- That has gone against the grain in Dallas, which has expressed it would not be inclined do that.
So, the logical next step is the franchise tag. And to avoid any potential messiness, using the exclusive tag is a no-brainer. Dallas has the salary cap to make that work, and in the meantime it gives the two sides a few more months to hammer out a long-term contract.
Stay tuned!