Dak Prescott officially puts the Cowboys on the clock

Dak Prescott’s decision to sign his franchise tender means it is now time for the Cowboys to get serious about locking him down long-term. 

The Cowboys have been saying all the right things about signing Dak Prescott to a long-term extension for months. Now it’s time for the franchise to put up or shut up.

Prescott made the decision to formally sign his franchise tender on Monday. That means he and the Cowboys now have a July 15th deadline if they want to sign him to a long-term deal. To put it bluntly, the franchise and their star player have a lot of work to do over the next several weeks.

What is going on with Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys?

Any hope the Cowboys do have of reaching a long-term agreement with Prescott means they will have to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the game. The $35 million Russell Wilson is set to earn in 2020 is widely seen as the starting point for any negotiations with Prescott. Recent reports indicate that the length of the agreement might be as important as the average annual salary in the mind of the star signal-caller.

Everyone in the Dallas organization wants to avoid heading into next season with Prescott effectively on a year-to-year contract. Not only would franchising him for multiple seasons get really expensive really fast, but it would also seed discord between Prescott and the front office. That could ultimately cause him to leave Dallas while he’s still in his prime.

That’s a disaster scenario for GM/owner Jerry Jones. He’s been adamant about his team’s desire to build around Prescott for the foreseeable future. Failing to lock Prescott in for the long haul would be considered a failure for Jones personally. That’s not the sort of public relations nightmare Jones or the Cowboys want to face.

Cowboys fans should expect a lot of conversation to take place between Prescott and the team in the coming days. The July 15 deadline now looms large for everyone in Big D.