3 galaxy brain trades the Cowboys would love to make this offseason
By Jakob Ashlin
Cowboys galaxy brain trade No. 2: Hitting the reset button
Okay, hear me out.
The Cowboys are seven years into the Dak Prescott era. Over the years, they have surrounded him with plenty of weapons (Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup), and they have fielded a top-10 defense in four individual seasons. Still, they have never made it to the Conference Championship.
I am not saying that Prescott is not a talented quarterback. He is, but at some point, results matter.
Moving on from Prescott may be the best option for the Cowboys. They can roll the dice on a rookie quarterback and potentially raise their ceiling. However, that is simpler than it sounds. If cut or traded, he will incur $89 million in dead cap, per Spotrac. So, the Cowboys must be willing to live with that figure. Secondly, a potential trade partner must have enough cap space to both absorb his 2023 base salary ($31 million) and absorb another contract for the Cowboys to offset the loss.
The Las Vegas Raiders moved on from Derek Carr, and they have been a rumored destination for veteran quarterbacks. The Raiders have $46.28 million in projected cap space, per Spotrac. In this trade, they would acquire both Prescott and Elliott ($41.1 million in combined 2023 base salary).
Meanwhile, unloading Elliott’s contract in the deal would help alleviate the dead cap problem. According to Spotrac, the Cowboys would lose only $4 million in 2023 cap space, while still unloading Prescott. If they restructure the contracts of DeMarcus Lawrence, Zach Martin, and Michael Gallup, they can create positive cap space. More importantly, they would acquire the seventh overall pick in the draft, which would give them the potential to draft CJ Stroud, Will Levis, or Anthony Richardson.
There is a big condition on this one. Prescott has a no-trade clause, so he would have to agree to the deal.