This summer, the Dak Prescott deal extension issue will be talked about over and over again as the Dallas Cowboys try to figure out what to do with their best player. A lot of people will have different thoughts on how to handle it and how much he’s worth. We should get used to the fact that we will be talking for a long time.

For some of us, this situation is pretty simple. What seems like something we already know is going to happen; now it’s just a matter of when.

There are a lot of ways things could go wrong, but we should always keep an open mind and consider all of them. That’s what we’re going to do today. We’ve come up with three possible solutions for the Cowboys’ front office when it comes to Dak.

Choice 1: Give him a new extension in March.

Getting a new deal done before the NFL season starts on March 13 is the easiest way to take care of business. An extension would change the terms of Prescott’s deal and free up a lot of the $59.5 million cap Һit that is already set for this season. This is why the target date was chosen. If the Cowboys could work out a deal at that point, they would have money cap space to use when free agents come around.

Both sides would have to agree on a deal for this to happen. Keep in mind that Prescott’s price is the price he sets. Jerry Jones won’t be able to get him a deal with any kind of clever business strategy. Todd France, Prescott’s lawyer, will do everything he can to get his client the best deal. It’s a done deal if both sides are happy with it. Then we can stop talking about it. If not, we need to move on to plan B.

Option 2: Turn his base pay into a bonus and give him more time in September.

It’s not the end of the world if the Cowboys and Dak can’t make a deal in March. There’s another choice the front desk can make that will pretty much do the same thing and buy them some time. Since Prescott signed his last deal, the Cowboys have turned most of his regular pay into extra money every year. They can keep doing this. This is just a way to spread out the base pay over a number of years for accounting reasons. Cowboys can pay Prescott a starting salary of $29 million over three years: 2024, 2025 (void), and 2026 (void). This is possible because Prescott’s deal has two years that are not valid.

The Cowboys will have room to sign free agents because of this and other upcoming restructures. The picture above shows which players are taking up the most cap space right now. It might look like the Cowboys are thinking about starting the season without giving Prescott a new deal if they go ahead with a Dak rework. This is because both sides are “too far apart” in talks. Prescott and his agent would have to decide if they are okay with playing another season without any promises of what will happen in the future. After a season that made him a likely MVP, his worth is high right now. What’s it going to be a year from now when other variables enter the equation, which may include a drop off in play, another playoff disappointment, and the rιsk of ιnjury to his soon-to-be 31-year-old body? These variables could be enough to push the sides close enough together to get a deal done in the final hours before Week 1 kicks off on the 2024 season.

Option 3: Turn his base pay into a bonus and don’t let him work extra hours.

What will happen if the Cowboys turn the full amount of his $29 million base pay into a bonus?

In 2024, Dak’s cap Һit for the Cowboys goes down from $59.46 million to $40.93 million. This frees up $18.53 million in cap space. Good news! The bad news is that the Cowboys will still be on the hook for the remaining $55 million (of his original $160 million) spread across the two void years of his contract ($35 million in 2025, and $20 million in 2026). If they don’t end up extending Prescott, that will be a hefty tax to pay for an asset who will be playing for some other team after the 2024 season.

The Cowboys have the flexibility to delay an extension with Prescott until the fall and doing so will give them a full training camp with Trey Lance. When September rolls around, they will have a better sense of Prescott’s value to the team. Would they be comfortable transitioning to Lance and letting Dak walk after the 2024 season? Or would Lance’s skills bring too much doubt and force their hand to re-up on Prescott? These questions will be a lot easier to answer in the fall.

Should Dak not have a new contract when the season starts, the Joneses will continue to give us lip service about how Prescott’s still their guy and that they will revisit things in the offseason. This will be a weak attempt to not bur𝚗 that bridge should Prescott set the league on fire and have an incredible 2024 season. But rest assured, the damage will be done. Not getting a deal done by the start of the season will likely sour the relationship between Dak and the front office and you better believe Prescott’s contract demands will be enormous next offseason as he holds all the cards.

Gone are the days when they could franchise tag him to prevent him from entering the open market. A more likely scenario is that Prescott takes matters into his own hands and waives his no-trade clause so both sides can wash their hands clean of the situation and move forward.

Are any of these options desirable to you? Is there another choice we’re overlooking? If so, let us know in the comments.