Dallas Cowboys: What do they do in free agency with Dak Prescott?

The Dallas Cowboys have many important decisions to make this offseason. What are they planning to do in free agency with quarterback Dak Prescott?

The Dallas Cowboys are in the midst of one of their most important offseasons ever. They finally moved on from their former head coach Jason Garrett, opting to bring in former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy to help make this underachieving team a Super Bowl contender. Dallas also has a ton of issues to address in the upcoming NFL free agency period.

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, discuss what Dallas’ plans will be regarding their top pending free agent in quarterback Dak Prescott (16:51).

“Look, I can’t imagine a scenario where Dak [Prescott] gets out of Dallas,” said Verderame. “I mean, they’re just not going to let him hit free agency. So worst case scenario, they tag him. But I gotta tell you, I think this gets uglier before it gets rosy…They’ve dropped the ball significantly on Dak Prescott’s contract. They should have signed him to an extension before [Carson] Wentz got paid.”

Schwartz believes Dallas is likely to tag Prescott, possibly more than once, and then letting him walk. He feels the Cowboys aren’t in love with the guy and will give him the same sort of respect the Washington Redskins did with their former starting quarterback Kirk Cousins. While Prescott will get paid by the Cowboys, Schwartz doesn’t believe he’s a long-term solution in Dallas.

Tagging Prescott means Dallas will end up paying at least $10 million premium in excess for his talent. Prescott will ask for $35 million annually, as Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs is expected to be the first $40 million quarterback in football. With a new head coach in town in McCarthy, Dallas may want to go year-to-year with Prescott before fully committing to him.

However, tagging the starting quarterback when his fellow draft classmate running back Ezekiel Elliott skipped in line to get paid despite having multiple off-the-field issues cannot sit well with those in Prescott’s camp. He will get paid by the Cowboys, but tagging him will end up being a terrible tone-setter for the early McCarthy years in Dallas. Will the Cowboys do the right thing?

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Schwartz walks us through an Andy Reid play call (33:10)
• Have we heard last of Mason Rudolph–Myles Garrett feud (34:40)
• What to watch for at NFL Combine? (47:15)
• Schwartz talks stretching, yoga in his old age (50:30)

All this and more!

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