FRISCO – That Dallas Cowboys’ $240 million contract with Dak Prescott, signed last fall on the eve of the start of the 2024 season? The ink, by now, is of course dry. But the ink can be moved.
And in fact, our CowboysCountry.com insider Mike Fisher is predicting we might be about two weeks away from that very thing occurring.
Built into the deal with the Dallas QB are void years, future empty vessels in which to move cap money as to spread out and lessen the impact of Prescott’s salary.
It was 30 years ago when Jerry Jones and the Cowboys first started utilizing this tool, and Dallas became the model for how to do it.
And now it is about to happen again. Writes Fish: “It is very simple and it is very clear: At whatever point the Cowboys wish to do so, they can ‘flip the switch’ on Dak’s existing deal, without having to ask permission or negotiate, and move his 2025 cap hit from $89.89 million to about $50 to $54 million and in doing do will gain about $36 to $40 million in cap room.
“And,” Fish adds, “with NFL free agency opening up on March 12, the smart prediction is that Dallas ‘flips the switch’ sometime in the coming days.” Fisher also notes that the Cowboys can (will?) do the same thing with CeeDee Lamb’s deal, with $20 million of room opening up.
And as we’ve been reporting for months, if Dallas also does its long-term contract with Micah Parsons in a timely fashion, the Cowboys can end up with about $100 million in cap room with which to go shopping.
We do add a cautionary note to all of this, and an acknowledgement of Cowboys Nation’s skepticism: While not “flipping the switch” on Dak’s deal would leave his cap impact at $89.89 million – a figure so massive it would preclude Dallas from doing much roster-building business at all – COO Stephen Jones’ conservatism on these matters justifies your wait-and-see approach.
But this we know for sure: March 12 is coming. So whatever the Cowboys’ cap plan is?
You won’t have to wait too long to see.