Marcus Spears isn’t buying the latest hangup in the Dak Prescott contract saga, as the Cowboys continue to tap dance around why the two-time Pro Bowl quarterback remains unsigned.
“I’ve never known a guy to fight over a year if he’s going to get $100 million guaranteed,” the former Cowboys’ defensive end said on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Monday morning. “Because, usually, that’s all that matters to NFL players is, ‘What am I getting going to my bank account?’
“Out of every contract we’ve watched get done … there was not this delay. There was not this many players being signed to the team before the quarterback being signed. There was not a nine-year starter signed as a backup. All of this stuff! And we keep watching it like they’ll go about normal business and they’ll get the deal done. This ain’t normal!”
The Cowboys franchise-tagged Prescott back in March, but have been stuck negotiating a long-term deal for months. Over the past year, the team locked down Amari Cooper, Ezekiel Elliott, Jaylon Smith and Demarcus Lawrence in blockbuster contracts leaving Prescott currently as the odd man out. The running rumor is that the bottleneck has more to do with the length of the contract and less so about the value, which Spears, among others, finds suspect.
“If they’ve offered Dak $35 million a year and over $100 million guaranteed and he’s turning it down because of an extra year, Dak is crazy,” he said. “I’m not sure if that is the case. I’m thinking something about the structure of this contract is giving Dak and his agent pause before signing.”
Since entering the league, the Cowboys’ 2016 fourth-round pick has earned very little compared to other starting quarterbacks. Prescott has thrown for 15,778 yards, 97 touchdowns and 36 interceptions with a 65.8 completion percentage and has earned an average of $1 million per year over four seasons.
The 2020 exclusive franchise tender for a quarterback is valued at $31.4 million, which the 26-year-old signal-caller has yet to sign. He and the Cowboys have until July 15 to agree on terms.
Spears, who played for the Cowboys from 2005 to 2012, referenced comments made by vice president Stephen Jones, son of owner Jerry Jones, on Saturday about the “analytics” warning against overburdening the team with such a significant cap liability.
“I keep coming back to why,” Spears said. “When is the last time we’ve seen a team have this much trouble signing their supposedly franchise quarterback? When have we seen apprehension? When we have heard the general manager/owner come out and say when you pay your quarterback top money you don’t win Super Bowls?”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith also appeared on “Get Up” and echoed Spears’ sentiments that the lack of any solid figure leaked to the public is suspect in itself.
“If Dak Prescott is getting paid over $35 million a year and over $100 million in guaranteed, you gotta take that deal, particularly in these moments in time,” Smith said. “This has me on high alert. It’s really raised my proverbial eyebrow. I don’t understand with the exceptional, exceptional NFL analysts we have all over the place or NFL insiders why someone has not been able to tell us the amount of guaranteed dollars that Dak Prescott has been offered. Because I gotta believe that’s what this is about. Nothing else makes any sense for this go be going on for a year now the way that it has.”