Analyst thinks Cowboys should 'cap' offer to Dak Prescott at this number

Quarterback Dak Prescott remains in the final year of his contract and has hinted on multiple occasions he won't be offering Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones a significant hometown discount during negotiations.

For a piece published Thursday, analyst Austin Mock of The Athletic suggested Jones should only be willing to offer Prescott so much ahead of the upcoming season.

"The soundest strategy is probably for the Cowboys to cap their offer at $60M per year, and if Prescott wants to wait for free agency and another team goes above that, let him go," Mock explained. "...There’s no GM under pressure in Dallas. It’s Jerry and (Cowboys chief operating officer) Stephen Jones, and they aren’t going anywhere. If they want to let Prescott leave, no one is going to fire them for making a mistake (if that’s what it turns out to be)."

Prescott was a 2023 regular-season Most Valuable Player Award finalist and turned just 31 years old in July, so it's understandable he wants to reset the market for players at the position either before September or in March 2025 after Jacksonville Jaguars starter Trevor Lawrence, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers all put pen to paper on lucrative deals this offseason.

With that said, Prescott's 2-5 career postseason record seems to have at least Jerry Jones wondering if the veteran of eight NFL campaigns can guide the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl berth since they won Super Bowl XXX in January 1996.

The Cowboys currently have 2021 first-round draft pick Trey Lance in their quarterback room, but he hasn't yet offered any hope that he could serve as a long-term replacement for Prescott. Mock thinks Dallas could let Prescott walk, sign a bridge option at the position, and then spend a first-round draft choice in either 2025 or 2026 on a quarterback prospect.

"...If Prescott is my quarterback at $60M, I believe I can manipulate the rising salary cap enough to build a competitive roster," Mock added. "But that’s where I’m drawing the line. There comes a point where the price is too steep, and the future cap problems make it nearly impossible to build a championship-caliber roster around him."

Of course, the worry about embracing such a strategy is that Prescott could prove invaluable to a championship roster over the next six months. If such a scenario happens, Jerry Jones may have to give his QB1 a blank check before the new league year opens in March.