Every time you see a story about the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott working on a new contract, it never fails that Eagles, Giants, and Redskins fans crawl out of their holes to say how “happy” they are about the deal. But what alternate universe do these folks live in? What do they think’s been going on in the NFC East the last four years?
Consider the following exchange I had on Wednesday with one deluded Washington fan:
Washington 1-7 against the Cowboys since Dak Prescott became the starting QB.
— Jess Haynie (@CowboysAddicts) March 25, 2020
Jeff is but one of many to suffer from this brand of ignorance. And Skins fans are the last who should be talking, having only one win against Dak since he arrived in the division.
It’s not much better for the other two. New York is 2-6 and Philadelphia is 3-5 against Dallas from 2016-2019.
(And for the record, one of those Philly losses came in a meaningless Week 17 finale. The Cowboys were leading at halftime when Prescott came out of the game.)
That’s right; Dak Prescott is the winningest quarterback in the NFC East for the last four years. He’s led the Cowboys to two of the last four division titles and is 18-6 in division games. That’s a winning percentage of 75%.
Now some of these grinning goobers are laughing at the notion of Dak being the highest-paid QB in the NFL. And even the most ardent Cowboys will admit that Prescott isn’t the best in the league.
But Dak getting this contract, whether it’s $35 million per year or something close to it, is just a short-term issue. His being the most expensive passer in the NFL will only last until Pat Mahomes or someone gets a new deal.
Nobody thinks Prescott is the best in the league. He’s just the best who happened to be a free agent in the year 2020. That’s how these things work.
The Redskins know what that’s all about. Kirk Cousins has made many more millions than he ever deserved just because his Washington contract expired at the right time. After two years on the franchise tag, Cousins got the richest contract in NFL history from Minnesota even though nobody saw him as the top QB in football.
Last year, despite Wentz’s season-ending injuries in 2017 and 2018, the Eagles still felt they should give Carson a new deal worth $32 million per season. Even with so little leverage and major red flags, Wentz was able to become one of the richest quarterbacks in the game.
With the NFL salary cap going up about $10 million every season, the pains of a new contract for a quarterback are short-lived. In a few years from now, Prescott’s number will settle back down to match where he ranks among the league’s passers.
So whether you’ve deluded yourself into thinking that Dak’s easy to beat, or that his new contract will somehow sink the Cowboys financially, you’re wrong on either count.
Sometime soon, Dak Prescott will get a new deal from Dallas and hopefully get back to dominating the NFC East.
We’ll see how “amazing” they think his contract is then.
