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That’s one more name off the 49ers’ list. Dak Prescott, who had basically been playing a very expensive game of “chicken” with the Dallas Cowboys for the last two years, and winning decisively, just won again on a seismic level. Dallas, and more specifically owner Jerry Jones, have finally relented, and are reportedly signing Prescott to a monumental, four-year, up to $164 million deal.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the contract comes with the highest signing bonus in NFL history at $66 million. Schefter reported the contract is technically a six-year deal, including two void years at the end. Void years are a bit of shifty cap magic teams like to use, including the 49ers. It moves money into essentially nonexistent years that becomes due immediately whenever a player is cut or traded, or in the final year of the contract, if the deal is not extended.
Prescott will only count for $25.5 million against the cap in the first year of the deal, per ESPN’s Field Yates, but he’ll get a whopping $126 million fully guaranteed.
A deal with a $66M signing bonus and a $9M base salary (which would bring the total to $75M in year one) would bring Dak’s 2021 cap number down to $25.5M.
That would be $12.2M less than the franchise tag, a huge benefit to the Cowboys in a lower cap year.
A win for both sides. https://t.co/0sQoV2ZssX
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 9, 2021
Back in February, Schefter joined KNBR and suggested that Prescott sticking with the Cowboys was likely, but by no means a done deal, saying that he was still an option, though an unlikely one, in free agency.
