Grading a Cowboys-Raiders trade with a preposterous ending for Dak Prescott

I don't know if I have the stomach for it, but no franchise in NFL history has been bolder for stranger-than-fiction reasons than the Las Vegas Raiders. The NFL's rebel franchise has moved a bunch, including from Oakland twice. Although they have some upward trajectory under new head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco, the Silver and Black still need a new quarterback.

How about Dak Prescott? Well, Prescott is entering the final season of his four-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Although it serves Dallas to retain him, he will cost The Joneses more than an arm and a leg to keep up with ... The Joneses... Could these two mega brands make a franchise-altering trade for both parties? I wouldn't count on it, but FS1's Craig Carton stuck his neck out there with this.

His trade proposal would get Prescott onto the Raiders for Gardner Minshew II and four draft picks.

"Well, there's smoke in the air out of Dallas ... there are starting to be rumors down there on Dallas sports talk radio that Dak Prescott is going to be traded. And the storyline, and I want to be clear, it's unconfirmed, there are talks that the Dallas Cowboys and the Las Vegas Raiders have had some conversations in which the Raiders would send four picks and maybe Gardner Minshew to Dallas to get the expiring contract of Dak Prescott."

Here is what Craig Carton's proposed trade to the Raiders for Prescott could look like conceptually.

The financials kind of actually work. Prescott's APY for 2024 is $40 million. While Minshew's is only $12.5 million, the Raiders could get to a little over $40 million combined if they included two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft (No. 13 and No. 77), as well as two in 2025 (first and fourth-round). Dallas would land a capable bridge quarterback, as well as four picks to help reshape its rebuilding roster quickly.

Conceptually, the math does math. However, there are three major flaws with this trade proposal to even begin with. One, Prescott is playing on an expiring contract. Two, Minshew just signed with the Raiders. And three, Jerry Jones is not about to rebuild in Dallas at this stage of his football life. Prescott could be extended, but can Minshew even be traded right now? Let's discuss all this now!

Grading a trade proposal to send Dak Prescott to the Las Vegas Raiders

From a pure math and financial standpoint, this trade does make sense. The Cowboys would recoup some $40 million-plus in assets in exchange for dealing Prescott away in his contract year. It would be up to Telesco in getting Prescott under a new contract. He would face immense pressure to do so, as most people don't get second chances at being NFL general managers. Mark Davis complicates this.

See, the Raiders are one of the poorest franchises in the NFL. Davis inherited this team from his father, who helped found it as an AFL franchise in the very early 1960s. Moving to Las Vegas and having a stadium that drives revenue for the Raiders does give them more money to work with. However, trading for one year of Prescott and then signing elsewhere in free agency would be awful.

Regardless of the fact that Minshew may not be eligible to be traded just yet, I do think Dallas would at least entertain that potential offer for Prescott playing out his expiring. Dallas could use the Raiders' No. 13 overall pick to either draft Prescott's long-term successor or use it with their own first-round pick at No. 24 to potentially trade up into the top five. They would have the assets to do it.

To me, I think any other team in this situation would highly consider making the deal with the Raiders. They are not a well-run operation. Dallas is a better one, but therein lies the problem. It all comes back to Jerry Jones. He is not going to want to make this deal, mostly because it is not about him. He wants to be at the center of everything, and that has everything to do with Prescott contract drama.

While this could Jones' Cowboys' second chance at a Herschel Walker trade, keep in mind that Jimmy Johnson was the man who pulled the trigger on that deal, not Jones. He was too busy running the business during the team's heyday in the early 1990s. Because Prescott is a star he helped build, he is not going to trade him, even if the Cowboys did end up with Minshew and four top-100 picks.

Although I don't hate this trade proposal, I don't trust these two unreliable trade partners even one bit.

Grade: B-