I decided to do something this morning that I almost never do – I turned on ESPN. ESPN has been washed up for years, but maybe I was looking for an inspiration or some ideas of what to talk about on my blog. Lucky for me, First Take was on with Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman, and (some guy I later found out to me named) Marcus. They argued over the question, “Who looks worse: Dak Prescott or the Dallas Cowboys?”. In this article, I will go over my opinion on quarterback contracts, Dak Prescott, the Dallas Cowboys, and the brilliant minds of First Take. (As a side note, I do not plan on this blog being opinion based. Not to say there couldn’t be an opportunity for a future contributor of the blog to write opinion based articles.)
Lets get the biggest cold take that’s bothering me out of the way: ‘Didn’t Ryan Tannehill get a long term contract this offseason? It does not matter, you sign your franchise quarterback. It’s not about the numbers.’ I don’t know who this Marcus guy is, but I would love for him to go shadow an NFL GM for a day (not Jerry Jones). The numbers are quite literally what matters in this situation. They are in dispute over numbers in terms of dollars, years, guaranteed money, etc. Here are some numbers for you Marcus – Ryan Tannehill had the best quarterback rating (117.5) in the league last year and led his team to the AFC Championship game. Dak Prescott had the 10th highest quarterback rating of 99.7 last year and couldn’t lead his team to the playoffs or even past the heavily injured Philadelphia Eagles in week 16. Ryan Tannehill signed a contract for an average of 29.5 million dollars a year. Dak Prescott is scheduled to make 31.5 million dollars next year, enough to make him the 7th highest paid quarterback (and could be number 2 if he signed the gift of a contract Jerry Jones probably offered him). I’m sorry Marcus from First Take but the world is not as simple as ‘give the guy a bunch of money and don’t care about the repercussions if he’s not worth it.’ Quit trying to be a spectacle First Take – you are boring attention seekers who have no real accolades to back up your worthless opinions.
There is no spectacle of Dak Prescott. In my opinion, he is essentially a mediocre quarterback surrounded by a great offensive line, an elite running back, and three great wide receivers. Dak Prescott may be a franchise quarterback but he is not elite. If you were worth it, you would already have your demands. I’m sorry that I have to dig into Dak Prescott, he could be and probably is a great guy. I don’t want this to be taken on a personal level, this is about business only. To answer First Take’s dumb question about who looks worse, neither of them. It’s just a contract negotiation. Dak Prescott has to decide what’s best for his life, and the Dallas Cowboys have to decide what’s best for their team. If they can’t come to an honest and fair agreement then it was never meant to be. End of story.
What it really boils down to is Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys don’t think they have a chance. If they sign Dak Prescott on his terms they can’t win. They have a washed up head coach and play caller in Mike McCarthy who is so not in touch with modern day football. They have a GM in Jerry Jones who has arguably never had any success building a successful team. The last thing they need is to sign their “franchise quarterback” to a contract he doesn’t deserve. Large quarterback contracts have not been successful in the past decade in the NFL. This idea will be covered in a later blog entry.
-Cody, Founder of Sports Confidant
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