Today's the deadline for Dallas to sign Dak Prescott to a long-term deal, or he'll be playing the season on the franchise tag. The money is reaching crazy levels, with Prescott reportedly turning down a deal that includes $100 million in guaranteed money. Sounds like a lot, but these quarterback contracts are only going to increase.
No one is saying Prescott deserves the half a billion dollars Patrick Mahomes just got. (Well, his agent might be, who knows.) But the fact is that if a team can give Mahomes that kind of money without blinking an eye, they are obviously doing very well for themselves financially. Nobody should be worrying about Jerry Jones' great grandkids going hungry because he signed Dak Prescott. Jones, meanwhile, should be thinking about the consequences of going the Kirk Cousins route with his franchise quarterback.
The Washington Copyright Battles let Cousins walk a couple years ago, and they've since gone 10-22 while spending lots of money and draft picks to have Alex Smith, Case Keenum, Josh Johnson, Colt McCoy, Mark Sanchez and Dwayne Haskins start games for them. This offseason they traded for Kyle Allen. A year from now they might well be drafting a quarterback in the first round again. Have they found a quarterback as good as Cousins yet?
NFL teams aren't playing fantasy football, but if they don't wrap up a deal with Prescott eventually, they'll be saying goodbye to one of the very best quarterbacks in our little game every year he's been in the league. Prescott has started for four seasons, and in that time he's had four of the top 50 seasons by a fantasy quarterback. He's finished in the top 11 at the position in all of those years.
| TOP 50 QUARTERBACK FANTASY SEASONS, 2016-2019 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | PaYds | TD | RuYds | TD | FF Pts | Rk |
| 2018 | Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 5097 | 50 | 272 | 2 | 496.1 | 1 |
| 2019 | Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 3127 | 36 | 1206 | 7 | 463.0 | 1 |
| 2016 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 4428 | 40 | 369 | 4 | 446.3 | 1 |
| 2018 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 5129 | 34 | 98 | 3 | 429.2 | 2 |
| 2018 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 4924 | 35 | 125 | 3 | 428.2 | 3 |
| 2019 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 5109 | 33 | 250 | 1 | 426.5 | 2 |
| 2016 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 5208 | 37 | 20 | 2 | 422.4 | 2 |
| 2017 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 3983 | 34 | 586 | 3 | 415.8 | 1 |
| 2016 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 4944 | 38 | 117 | 0 | 414.9 | 3 |
| 2019 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 4902 | 30 | 277 | 3 | 412.8 | 3 |
| 2018 | Andrew Luck, Ind. | 4593 | 39 | 148 | 0 | 405.9 | 4 |
| 2018 | Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 4165 | 26 | 551 | 5 | 397.4 | 5 |
| 2018 | Jared Goff, LAR | 4688 | 32 | 108 | 2 | 397.2 | 6 |
| 2019 | Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 3852 | 26 | 413 | 7 | 389.5 | 4 |
| 2016 | Andrew Luck, Ind. | 4240 | 31 | 341 | 2 | 386.1 | 4 |
| 2019 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 4110 | 31 | 342 | 3 | 383.7 | 5 |
| 2016 | Kirk Cousins, Was. | 4917 | 25 | 96 | 4 | 379.5 | 5 |
| 2018 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 4442 | 25 | 269 | 2 | 367.0 | 7 |
| 2017 | Cam Newton, Car. | 3302 | 22 | 754 | 6 | 366.5 | 2 |
| 2017 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 4577 | 32 | 28 | 0 | 363.7 | 3 |
| 2018 | Kirk Cousins, Min. | 4298 | 30 | 123 | 1 | 360.1 | 8 |
| 2018 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 3992 | 32 | 22 | 4 | 356.9 | 9 |
| 2016 | Philip Rivers, S.D. | 4386 | 33 | 35 | 0 | 354.8 | 6 |
| 2017 | Kirk Cousins, Was. | 4093 | 27 | 179 | 4 | 354.6 | 4 |
| 2016 | Blake Bortles, Jac. | 3905 | 23 | 359 | 3 | 354.2 | 7 |
| 2018 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 4308 | 32 | 7 | 0 | 354.1 | 10 |
| 2018 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 3885 | 22 | 305 | 6 | 352.8 | 11 |
| 2017 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 4446 | 29 | 98 | 0 | 352.1 | 5 |
| 2018 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 3448 | 35 | 376 | 0 | 351.9 | 12 |
| 2018 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 4355 | 29 | 35 | 2 | 350.9 | 13 |
| 2019 | Kyler Murray, Ariz. | 3722 | 20 | 544 | 4 | 350.5 | 6 |
| 2019 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 4466 | 26 | 147 | 1 | 350.0 | 7 |
| 2017 | Alex Smith, K.C. | 4042 | 26 | 355 | 1 | 347.6 | 6 |
| 2016 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 4327 | 24 | 207 | 2 | 347.1 | 8 |
| 2019 | Josh Allen, Buff. | 3089 | 20 | 510 | 9 | 345.5 | 8 |
| 2016 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 4090 | 28 | 165 | 1 | 345.0 | 9 |
| 2019 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 4039 | 27 | 243 | 1 | 344.3 | 9 |
| 2018 | Cam Newton, Car. | 3395 | 24 | 488 | 4 | 342.6 | 14 |
| 2019 | Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 4031 | 26 | 218 | 2 | 341.4 | 10 |
| 2016 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 3667 | 23 | 282 | 6 | 339.6 | 10 |
| 2016 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 4219 | 21 | 259 | 1 | 338.3 | 11 |
| 2017 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 4515 | 28 | -2 | 0 | 337.6 | 7 |
| 2019 | Jared Goff, LAR | 4638 | 22 | 40 | 2 | 335.9 | 11 |
| 2017 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 3296 | 33 | 299 | 0 | 334.7 | 8 |
| 2019 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 4002 | 26 | 183 | 1 | 334.4 | 12 |
| 2017 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 4251 | 28 | 47 | 0 | 333.3 | 9 |
| 2019 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 4615 | 23 | 29 | 0 | 327.7 | 13 |
| 2017 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 3324 | 22 | 357 | 6 | 325.9 | 10 |
| 2016 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 3937 | 28 | 70 | 0 | 325.9 | 12 |
| 2018 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 3223 | 24 | 421 | 3 | 325.3 | 15 |
Jones and the Cowboys are trying to win Super Bowls, not fantasy titles. But six of the eight quarterbacks who have been better than Prescott in any of the last four years have taken their teams to the big game, and there's no NFC juggernaut that seems to be standing in Dallas' way, if the team is able to keep Prescott in the fold.
Maybe Jones believes with a strong offensive line, running game and receiving corps -- all of which he has -- he can find another quarterback to run the offense at a much cheaper price. It's not my money, but I think he's better off biting the bullet, paying Prescott, and continuing to be a playoff contender for the life of that contract. A lot better than spending the next few years looking for somebody else.
--Andy Richardson