No doubt, 2024 left something to be desired for quarterback Dak Prescott of the Cowboys. He suffered a hamstring injury that KO’d him after Week 8, and certainly, missing half a season is going to ding anyone’s standing within the team. But, the fact is, Prescott struggled even before he got hurt.
His completion percentage was the second-lowest of his career. His yards per completion (10.7) was the lowest he’s ever had, as was his touchdown percentage (3.8) and his quarterback rating (86.0). One thing that registered as a near career high for Prescott: sack percentage. That was 6.84, which was second-highest of his career.
But despite all that, Prescott his set for a career-high–and league-high–cap hit in 2025 of $89.8 million, which ranks $17 million more than the No. 2 player on the list, Deshaun Watson. That is obviously unsustainable, but is a product of the Cowboys’ past handling of Prescott’s contracts.
Cowboys Have Been Pushing Money Forward All Along
According to Mike Ginnitti of Spotrac, Prescott’s payout is simply unsustainable. The Cowboys will need to restructure his deal and move significant money out of the base salary, making it a signing bonus.
That will push more money onto the Cowboys’ future tab. But that’s how the Cowboys have been paying out Prescott all along.
“We’re still paying dues on the last contract, which rolled into this contract when they extended him last offseason. That’s just the going rate,” Ginnitti said on “The Spotrac Podcast.”
“That’s what happens when you continue to push things down the line a little bit, eventually it catches up to you. Guess what they’re going to do this offseason? They’re going to push more down the line. They’re gonna take that $47 million base salary and make it about $5 million, and make the additional $42 million a signing bonus and push it down into the $28-29 million (range) and they’ll be just fine with that.”
Dak Prescott Ranked 30th by PFF
If your quarterback is Jalen Hurts or Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, then that’s not much of a problem. But the problem is that the Cowboys are having to contort themselves for a player who was well far removed from the top of his field in 2024.
Pro Football Focus registered Prescott as the 30th quarterback in the league last year, out of 44 that were graded. And yet his cap hit is the highest.
“The problem is this, and we’ve seen it with a couple of these quarterbacks now, they’re not exactly pleased with 2024 Dak Prescott, of course,” Ginnitti said. “So, you don’t want to get yourself into a situation where you’re burying $100 million in dead cap two years from now, and he’s not going to be the guy. There’s a lot of people that think that is exactly what happens here.”
He added, “They’re going to have walk gingerly with how they treat this contract. But there is absolutely no way he walks into 2025 with an $89 million cap hit. I expect that to come down mightily in the next couple of weeks.”
