Speaker 1: The following he's a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. Well, if you're hearing
Speaker 1: a sound of whoa, that's because the Cowboys Nation. There's
Speaker 1: a big sigh of relief going on here Monday night.
Speaker 1: It's finally done, guys, this is a done deal. We're
Speaker 1: here to talk about it. I got Rob Phillips, David Hellman,
Speaker 1: NICKI Ben, and guess what, Dak Prescott and this finally
Speaker 1: has a new contract. It's not officially signed yet. Close enough, though, guys,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what we knew. It wasn't gonna happen
Speaker 1: in the middle of the day. We knew it was
Speaker 1: gonna be something. Time at night. Here we are, right
Speaker 1: before the deadline. I'll start with you, Rob, I'll start
Speaker 1: with you. You wrote the story, thoughts, thoughts on the deal. Finally,
Speaker 1: Glad it's over. You said thank God earlier. Yes, this
Speaker 1: is the thank God podcast. I think that's what said
Speaker 1: before we went on. Everybody wins. Everybody wins tonight. The
Speaker 1: Cowboys win, Dak Prescott obviously wins. The fans win, who
Speaker 1: were on board with getting Dak resigned. I think we win.
Speaker 1: We don't have to speculate about this anymore. I did
Speaker 1: the blitz hit on Friday, and I feel like I've
Speaker 1: reached a point. I think we've all reached a point
Speaker 1: with this conversation where you're just rehearsing what you know,
Speaker 1: and there really wasn't anything left to talk about except
Speaker 1: getting the deal done. And I think when it came
Speaker 1: right down to it, it was time. It was the
Speaker 1: right time for both sides to finish this out. You know, Dak,
Speaker 1: clearly every player wants long term security. You can talk
Speaker 1: about what he could earn on the tag this year
Speaker 1: and then potentially next year, but he gets long term
Speaker 1: security now. He's earned that without question the way he's
Speaker 1: played for five years, and the Cowboys get precious cap
Speaker 1: relief through this deal. To try to get something done
Speaker 1: when the new league gear begins next week and free
Speaker 1: agency gets going. Yeah, Dave, let's talk a little bit
Speaker 1: more about I mean, we get talk in a second
Speaker 1: about all the numbers that we know that being reported,
Speaker 1: but I'll get your overall thoughts on on the deal
Speaker 1: being done as well. I don't even know where to start,
Speaker 1: you guys. I mean, I mean, this isn't this isn't
Speaker 1: the first big deal that we've covered over the years.
Speaker 1: It won't be the last, but in my decade covering
Speaker 1: the team, it's easily the one that's drawn on for
Speaker 1: the longest. I mean you think you think back, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know Amari Cooper got a big deal last year
Speaker 1: that was that was maybe a year in the making.
Speaker 1: Zeke's big deal came kind of came out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: like nobody was really expecting him to hold out the
Speaker 1: way that he did. De Marcus Lawrence it came towards
Speaker 1: the end of his rookie deal. The point being is
Speaker 1: like this is typically like a I don't know, a
Speaker 1: six to eight month or deal, and with Dak Prescott, man,
Speaker 1: it's been it's been literally two years. I'm not exaggerating.
Speaker 1: Like from the time all from the time he finished
Speaker 1: the third year of his career until tonight, we've been
Speaker 1: wondering if or when this might get done, and sometimes
Speaker 1: you felt optimistic and sometimes you didn't. Honestly, I sure
Speaker 1: as hell didn't think it was going to happen before
Speaker 1: before the deadline, if you want me to be honest
Speaker 1: about it, And and here we are, and it's great
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. It's great. It's obviously great for Dak
Speaker 1: and his family, and holy cow, I'm just ay, I'm
Speaker 1: happy it happened. B I'm happy we can stop talking
Speaker 1: about it. I mean, it's yeah, it's a weight off
Speaker 1: of everybody's shoulders. If I had to guess, alright, a
Speaker 1: lot of go ahead, go ahead. Well. And the other
Speaker 1: thing too, is just how up uckly it happened, you know,
Speaker 1: And like I can't recall a deal with the Cowboys
Speaker 1: involved much less. When's the last time a deal of
Speaker 1: this magnitude in terms of dollars happened in any major
Speaker 1: American sport. And it really wasn't It didn't break early,
Speaker 1: you know. And I asked, I was asking around earlier
Speaker 1: just how quickly this came together? And was it the
Speaker 1: last few days? Was it just today? And I was told,
Speaker 1: you know, a little bit of both, and clearly today
Speaker 1: was they really picked up steam? And Stephen Jones has
Speaker 1: said this before. You know, when you can build a
Speaker 1: little bit of momentum in these talks, sometimes within a
Speaker 1: few hours they're done. And I know, and the thing
Speaker 1: about it is, like there's been so much skepticism over this.
Speaker 1: Dave mentioned that, you know, you kind of reach a
Speaker 1: point where, well, we got to see it to believe it.
Speaker 1: I think we almost kind of forgot that they have
Speaker 1: made progress in two years off and on. Not enough
Speaker 1: to get it done, but enough by the time they
Speaker 1: got talking again this offseason. I never felt like, ultimately
Speaker 1: would take that much time to get it done. The
Speaker 1: bones of this thing probably have been in place at
Speaker 1: least based on certain offers in the past, and they
Speaker 1: finally just kind of figured it out. Obviously it's good
Speaker 1: enough for both parties. All right, before, I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: a quick story about today. Before we do that, I
Speaker 1: want you guys to kind of also be thinking about
Speaker 1: this too. A lot of different numbers are being thrown around.
Speaker 1: You can skin this cat so many ways, so I
Speaker 1: want you guys to kind of think what number stands
Speaker 1: out the most to you when you think about I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of ways to say it, so just
Speaker 1: be thinking of that. If you already have it, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna tell this quick story about today. So
Speaker 1: we were told that Dak was going to be in
Speaker 1: our studio downstairs to shoot a quick PSA. So I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go down there. I mean, like we I
Speaker 1: felt like there would be more blocking than Darryl Johnston
Speaker 1: to make sure I didn't talk to He walked down
Speaker 1: there by himself, shockingly, and he said happy to be
Speaker 1: on two feet, excited about it. When he came out,
Speaker 1: I said, hey, I'm not doing my job if I
Speaker 1: don't at least try to talk to you, ask you
Speaker 1: to interview something. How's the rehab contract whatever? He said, no,
Speaker 1: I can't really do that right now. But he talked
Speaker 1: a little bit and he said, I ain't going anywhere.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a cowboy for life. And I was like,
Speaker 1: he's feeling good, doing good, and kind of did a
Speaker 1: little dance and all that. So he was he was
Speaker 1: good and he just got the sense. I told Rob,
Speaker 1: you just get the sense something's happening here, you know,
Speaker 1: and just and lo and behold you know here we are.
Speaker 1: I didn't think it was gonna happen today. And what
Speaker 1: did I say? I was like, yeah, okay, yeah, you've
Speaker 1: been I'll see it. You know, I'll believe it when
Speaker 1: I see it. Type approach for two years and why
Speaker 1: not it's been two years. So all right, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start with you. Rob, give me a number and we'll
Speaker 1: break this thing down just a second. Give me a
Speaker 1: number that you that you liked the most or it's
Speaker 1: interesting the most about this deal. Oh well, I mean
Speaker 1: the reports and then again, the Cowboys haven't released the
Speaker 1: numbers on this but but they're leaking out in the
Speaker 1: media and we'll learn more about it as we go.
Speaker 1: But the reports are sixty six million dollars signing bonus.
Speaker 1: That is a league record apparently, and it just speaks
Speaker 1: to it speaks to the magnitude of a of a quarterback,
Speaker 1: a star quarterback contract in this league, and it does
Speaker 1: remind you of how difficult these negotiations can get when
Speaker 1: you're talking about this much money, when you know, because
Speaker 1: the length of the deal has been considered long considered
Speaker 1: to hold up. But I'm sure guaranteed money has been
Speaker 1: a big part of this thing too. So right off
Speaker 1: the top, that one stood out to me the most day.
Speaker 1: What numbers when you're when you're looking at what's being reported,
Speaker 1: what numbers do do you kind of think, kind of standing, Oh, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's easy to me and you can call it a
Speaker 1: win for Dak. It seems like a win for Dak
Speaker 1: to me because he's gonna get free agency again when
Speaker 1: he's thirty one years old, and he'll be able to
Speaker 1: do all this all over again. But in my experience,
Speaker 1: again you know, I've been here since twenty thirteen. When
Speaker 1: the Cowboys do these types of deals, we're talking five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 1: In some cases, you know, like you know, with Tyrn Smith,
Speaker 1: he signs an eight year extension while he's still got
Speaker 1: two years on his deal, you're talking ten years. This
Speaker 1: is not the case with Dak. He's gonna be free
Speaker 1: to go again in four and I know, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe the Cowboys probably wouldn't prefer that, but I think
Speaker 1: it creates some flexibility that the stat I saw is that,
Speaker 1: you know, his deal averages forty two million per year
Speaker 1: over the first three years of the deal, which is
Speaker 1: understandably a lot of money, but it also means you're
Speaker 1: gonna be out from under this thing really quickly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, we all think it's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: I obviously think the world of Dak, but even if
Speaker 1: he's not as amazing as you think, one way or another,
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to get away from this quickly.
Speaker 1: You know. I just wrote about Ezekie Lelly, it's a
Speaker 1: deal earlier late last week. Excuse me, it's you know,
Speaker 1: your two seasons removed away from being able to get
Speaker 1: done with that deal because of the length of it.
Speaker 1: With Dak, that's clearly not the case, and I honestly
Speaker 1: think it's refreshing that you have that flexibility that Okay,
Speaker 1: if it's great, it's great, and if it's not, we're
Speaker 1: still going to be able to get out from underneath it.
Speaker 1: So it's obviously a win from Dak. He'll be able
Speaker 1: to hit free agency very quickly while he's still young.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a win for the Cowboys too,
Speaker 1: because even if this thing doesn't go well, they will
Speaker 1: still have flexibility to remanage their situation again in you know,
Speaker 1: three years, And that's unique. It's unique because these deals
Speaker 1: that we've seen over the last decade or so are
Speaker 1: so long, and this is not that. This is This
Speaker 1: is why I think it's it's a It's a big
Speaker 1: win for Cowboy fans because Cowboy fans obviously want to
Speaker 1: win right now. They're thinking about right now. It's rare
Speaker 1: to have a situation where you sign a player to
Speaker 1: a mega deal like this and his cap charge is
Speaker 1: actually could significantly yeah, this year, because last year he
Speaker 1: was counting what thirty one three? Is that what it
Speaker 1: was that with the seward cap. I mean, that's what
Speaker 1: the thirty one three and thirty one four and there's
Speaker 1: a chance it could be about thirty eight if they
Speaker 1: didn't get a deal done and he was playing on
Speaker 1: a tag. Now his cap charge is gonna be twenty
Speaker 1: two two, and that, you know, that's significant when you're
Speaker 1: thinking of what any played for last year. You're saving
Speaker 1: nine million dollars or so on the cap to maybe
Speaker 1: go get somebody else or resign some players or whatever.
Speaker 1: So that's that's why I think is a win, is
Speaker 1: that they were able to get this done and you
Speaker 1: said four years, David, You're right about that. It will
Speaker 1: be a four year but they were able to make
Speaker 1: it a straight Yeah. That will avoid down before and
Speaker 1: that's what spreads it down. So we can go over
Speaker 1: some of those numbers. Though you know it's he's gonna
Speaker 1: get seventy five million in the first year, it's about
Speaker 1: sixty six signing bonus nine in a base salary. I
Speaker 1: mean that's it's like one hundred and twenty two million
Speaker 1: over the first three years. I mean, it's like you
Speaker 1: said to a lot of which and I just I
Speaker 1: think it's important. I mean, and Nick you said it
Speaker 1: at the beginning. Is you know there's there's more than
Speaker 1: one way as to skin a cat, but like to
Speaker 1: get that money out of the way quickly, I think
Speaker 1: is important because it gives you flexibility later. Like sometimes
Speaker 1: you see these long deals where a player gets signed
Speaker 1: for six, seven, eight years and it's like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: can cut him, but it's gonna hit us for forty
Speaker 1: million dollars five years from now. I don't think this
Speaker 1: is that situation. I think. And again I think you know,
Speaker 1: we all think Dak's gonna play well, but even if
Speaker 1: he doesn't, I think this gives you the ability to
Speaker 1: get away if you need to. And like I said,
Speaker 1: I think it's unique. I think it's refreshing, and you know,
Speaker 1: I we'll see how the whole deal plays out. But
Speaker 1: for those of you Cowboy fans, and I know there
Speaker 1: are a lot of you that don't live in the
Speaker 1: Texas area, maybe you live in Pennsylvania, the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: gonna pay Dak Prescott less money on the cap to
Speaker 1: play quarterback for them this year. Than the Eagles are
Speaker 1: going to pay Carson Wentz to play for the Colts.
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz is counting thirty million dollars toward the cap
Speaker 1: to play for somebody else this year. And that's why
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Yeah, And that's why all this talk about
Speaker 1: quarterback movement like, to me, that's not that's not a
Speaker 1: trend because for that reason, because you can't. This isn't
Speaker 1: the NBA, the way the salary cap is structured. You
Speaker 1: can't move around contracts like that without major implications down
Speaker 1: the road that year and down the road. And that's
Speaker 1: why I just don't see that happening. That's why the
Speaker 1: Cowboys wanted to get the deal done with their quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know, instead of having to all these other rumors
Speaker 1: about something they might else they might be involved in,
Speaker 1: or you know, rumors about other quarterbacks that could be
Speaker 1: available and all that, they wanted to get this deal done.
Speaker 1: And actually, Nick, I want to change my answer because
Speaker 1: what you said about the money they save, that's the
Speaker 1: big one for me, Like fifteen plus million under the
Speaker 1: cap this year. That's why the timing for this deal
Speaker 1: was it. It was now because and to me, it
Speaker 1: says you had two sides, both sides pulling in the
Speaker 1: right direction, like Dak wants to be here, wants to
Speaker 1: be the franchise quarterback. And I'm sure he recognizes and
Speaker 1: it sounds like, you know, we'll get to talk to
Speaker 1: him on Wednesday. He recognizes, Look to get this thing
Speaker 1: done to help the Cowboys out in a crazy year
Speaker 1: with the pandemic, the salary cap dropping by twenty five
Speaker 1: million less than it would have been in a normal year.
Speaker 1: This allows them an opportunity to get number one, get
Speaker 1: under the cap, number two, a little more flexibility to
Speaker 1: hopefully do something to further upgrade the roster when things
Speaker 1: get going next week in free agency. That's a good point,
Speaker 1: Rob And that's that, to me, is the one of
Speaker 1: the answers of him, because it's easy for fans to say, well,
Speaker 1: what took so long? That right there is one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why, in my opinion of kind of why
Speaker 1: it took so long. They don't even know what the
Speaker 1: salary cap is right now, you know, so that they
Speaker 1: had to get creative. And that's when I found out
Speaker 1: it was a six year deal that voice the four
Speaker 1: then I was I was happy about that because that
Speaker 1: showed me that, like you said, they're working together, that
Speaker 1: doesn't want to just take up all of the salary
Speaker 1: cap and then not have anyone to block for him.
Speaker 1: I mean, he wants to have he wants his thing
Speaker 1: to have some success. So that I think is a
Speaker 1: really big deal. And you saw him today like he's
Speaker 1: been rehabbing at the Star. Yeah, that rehab is going
Speaker 1: very well like they believed it would, and there's just
Speaker 1: been no indication that there's this animosity. It just hasn't
Speaker 1: gotten done, and it was time to get it done.
Speaker 1: It was, I mean, it just honestly, it was time
Speaker 1: to get it done for both time, which I do
Speaker 1: think that's that's interesting and important for a deal of
Speaker 1: this size that took this long, and we can all
Speaker 1: attest to just how long it took. It never seemed
Speaker 1: like it got overly contentious, like you know, I mean, Nick,
Speaker 1: you saw Dack today and obviously he probably knew it
Speaker 1: was about to happen, But even still, like during this
Speaker 1: whole time frame, it never seemed overly acrimonious, like these
Speaker 1: two sides were just sniping at each other, even honestly,
Speaker 1: as short as it was when DeMarcus Lawrence was negotiating
Speaker 1: his deal, it seemed like there was more uncertainty and
Speaker 1: more sort of acid for lack of a better word,
Speaker 1: about like, well, is this going to happen? And I
Speaker 1: never got that from this well and that one of
Speaker 1: the reasons is did France talkm's to the meeting? I don't.
Speaker 1: I never know because d laws there. That's totally fair,
Speaker 1: totally fair. That was part of it. But also another
Speaker 1: point too is you remember that day where Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: was walking around here and he was really mad and
Speaker 1: pissed off. I don't either, you know, I that doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's not the way he is. And that's
Speaker 1: why these people love him. I mean, everybody here loves
Speaker 1: this guy. And you know, and and I think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys were were the same way, and that's maybe one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why they never really got down, because
Speaker 1: you know, they figured it was all always going to happen.
Speaker 1: It was. I do think I do think there was
Speaker 1: some genuine disappointment, probably on both sides in July because
Speaker 1: it was just I think for us too, it was
Speaker 1: almost shocked because how many times does it happen when
Speaker 1: the Cowboys want something? Done and they it doesn't get done.
Speaker 1: That just doesn't happen very often for them, and Dak
Speaker 1: had gotten on the phone with Stephen. I think that
Speaker 1: day of the headline trying to get something done didn't happen. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I don't think it ever got you know,
Speaker 1: really really contentious. And there's also been so many weird
Speaker 1: things around this team in the league, with the pandemic,
Speaker 1: with the CBA, and again you know, they were just
Speaker 1: able to roll up their sleeves and get it done
Speaker 1: at a critical point in the offseason. Well, two things,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, two things have ended today. Number one,
Speaker 1: of course, is this two year negotiation and speculation if
Speaker 1: this was ever going to happen. But another thing that ended,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, of course, is that that awesome story
Speaker 1: of the fourth year you know, draft pick, compensatory pick
Speaker 1: that comes in and leads this team and look what
Speaker 1: he's doing. He's playing on the chief and all that
Speaker 1: he's the leader. Okay, now that's over, and that's fine,
Speaker 1: that's what he wants. That's over. Now. The goal is
Speaker 1: with this contract, the expectation, of course, with this franchise
Speaker 1: is to go win win championships. I mean I don't
Speaker 1: think he would disagree with that. How do you guys
Speaker 1: think he will handle that? You want to take that first,
Speaker 1: Robbie or me take it? I just I mean, and
Speaker 1: I agree with you for whatever it's worth, Like that
Speaker 1: narrative can be put to bed, but I think I
Speaker 1: think it's been in bed for a long time. If
Speaker 1: you want me to be honest with you, because even
Speaker 1: if he didn't get the pay day, he played on
Speaker 1: the tag last year, he did this whole song and
Speaker 1: dance last year. He did this whole song and dance
Speaker 1: the offseason before that. Again, even even if he didn't
Speaker 1: get the money, it's literally been two years since the
Speaker 1: report first leaked. Oh Dak wants forty million dollars a year,
Speaker 1: and everybody in the world lost their damn minds. And
Speaker 1: so Dak has been playing under the scrutiny of like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's great, but how much is he worth for at
Speaker 1: least two years at this point. And I can hear
Speaker 1: I can hear people being mad right now. I know,
Speaker 1: you know, they didn't make that they were they were
Speaker 1: terrible last year when he got hurt. They didn't make
Speaker 1: the playoffs the year before that. But man, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know, go go watch the tape. As other
Speaker 1: Cowboy players like to say, my man's good at quarterback,
Speaker 1: Like he's he's damn good. And I know that he's
Speaker 1: very confident in himself. And honestly, if you're asking me
Speaker 1: to give you a reason why you should feel optimistic
Speaker 1: about Dak Prescott, like, I've never been around a person
Speaker 1: with more self belief than Dak Prescott. And I mean
Speaker 1: that's just me talking, like that's just my own experience.
Speaker 1: But he's got a way about him. Like right before
Speaker 1: we logged onto this show, you know, just looking through
Speaker 1: Instagram and Twitter, like the number of players that are
Speaker 1: posting about it. Randall Cobb, this spoke volumes to me.
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb, who played one year with Dak, said he's
Speaker 1: one of the best teammates I've ever had. He deserves
Speaker 1: everything he's got coming to him. You know, obviously nobody
Speaker 1: knows if he's going to deliver the Cowboys their next championship,
Speaker 1: but he's got everything you want in a quarterback. Who
Speaker 1: would And so I mean, maybe I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: biased because I've covered the guy's entire career, but I
Speaker 1: think it's good for the Cowboys to have him under contract.
Speaker 1: I think it's good to get this conversation out of
Speaker 1: the way. And if there's ever been a guy who's
Speaker 1: not gonna, you know, shy away from that type of limelight,
Speaker 1: I think it's Dak Prescott. You know, when he when
Speaker 1: he had that awful ankle injury in October. I remember
Speaker 1: Zach Martin saying after the game, he's he's the heart
Speaker 1: and soul of the team. And that wasn't lip service
Speaker 1: because all the guys feel that way, and that's a
Speaker 1: big part of you know, it's one thing to be
Speaker 1: the best player on the team or the most important
Speaker 1: position on the team, but if you're the leader of
Speaker 1: the team at that position, that makes to me, that
Speaker 1: makes your value. It puts the value of the contract
Speaker 1: in perspective, and to me, it makes it all worth it.
Speaker 1: And Daki is all those things. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's had pressure already. I mean, he played, like
Speaker 1: you mentioned Nippet, he had a thirty one million dollar
Speaker 1: contract last year, so it wasn't like he's been playing,
Speaker 1: you know. I think twenty nineteen was a two million
Speaker 1: dollars base salary that went away last year. Before he
Speaker 1: got hurt. So he's to a certain extent, he's already
Speaker 1: been through that. But yeah, he's he's in it to
Speaker 1: win big. I mean that that's what he expects out
Speaker 1: of himself. I remember one of one of his first
Speaker 1: couple of years in the league, he had Tom Brady's
Speaker 1: book in his locker, you know. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: where he's trying to go and and the Cowboys to
Speaker 1: get there. It's it's gonna take building an entire team
Speaker 1: around him, no question about that. But I just, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just Dave mentioned his self belief. I remember the
Speaker 1: first interview he ever gave a mini camp in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: I remember he was taught. He talked about Tony Romo
Speaker 1: and I remember thinking, I've never heard anybody say that,
Speaker 1: you know, as long as Tony's been around, And Tony
Speaker 1: got hurt, and I'll be damned if you know he
Speaker 1: didn't take the opportunity and run with it. And look
Speaker 1: where we are now. It's crazy. Yeah. And the amazing
Speaker 1: part about that is when he said that I'm not
Speaker 1: sure he was ahead of Jamil Showers on the tour
Speaker 1: at the time. No, I mean, that's the thing he wasn't.
Speaker 1: He wasn't. He didn't come out here and play that
Speaker 1: great to start with. And you know, when the lights
Speaker 1: came on, you know, everyone has their back moment, and
Speaker 1: I think Los Angeles, you know, when he went into
Speaker 1: that first preseason game and it was just like, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: I got this, or even Seattle a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: later in the preseason. I mean, he's always kind of
Speaker 1: he's always been a gamer. He's always been to me,
Speaker 1: a really outstanding football player, you know, and the first
Speaker 1: and foremost that plays quarterback. Not saying he's not a
Speaker 1: great quarterback, but he's a football player. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget the Denver game when they got their
Speaker 1: ask picked up in Denver and he's over there fighting
Speaker 1: to the ant throwing a pick, but tasing guys down
Speaker 1: dive and you know what I mean, that's when you
Speaker 1: know that, Okay, this guy. You know, someone told me
Speaker 1: just the other day, you put a foxhole down there
Speaker 1: and put Dak Prescott in it. He'd have the whole
Speaker 1: team down there with him. And I think that speaks
Speaker 1: volumes for kind of where they are. You know, I
Speaker 1: have a vivid memory like not to not to whatever,
Speaker 1: humble brag or whatever. But like, we went to Starkville
Speaker 1: a few years ago and did that documentary about Dak.
Speaker 1: I remember Dan Mullen was the coach of Mississippi State
Speaker 1: at the time, and he told us a story about
Speaker 1: how Dak Prescott showed up in the weight room in Starkville.
Speaker 1: Mississippi had an SEC program as a under recruited freshman
Speaker 1: from Louisiana. Probably should have been at LSU, but that's
Speaker 1: you know, we don't have to get into that right now.
Speaker 1: But he had the whole weight room buying into him,
Speaker 1: like a week into getting there. I mean, like that,
Speaker 1: that's rare. And I know, you know, people just want
Speaker 1: to see results on the field, but that stuff matters, man,
Speaker 1: Getting people to buy into you and believe in you
Speaker 1: as the quarterback of a team of a franchise. That's
Speaker 1: maybe it's not as important as actually playing well on
Speaker 1: the field, but it's it's right up there. It's absolutely
Speaker 1: as important. Imb And yeah, I mean Pick one thirty five.
Speaker 1: Not only was Ezekiel Elliott. You know, obviously everybody wanted
Speaker 1: to talk to Zeke when they got drafted. Everybody wanted
Speaker 1: to talk to Jail and Smith because he was this
Speaker 1: great story because coming off this injury, Rico Gathers had
Speaker 1: more reporters at his locker at rookie mini camp, more
Speaker 1: people wanted to talk to Rico Gathers than Dak Prescott.
Speaker 1: And here we are, you know, five six years later.
Speaker 1: It's just it's awesome. And you talk about like he
Speaker 1: was under recruited, heavily underrecruited. He knows exactly who was
Speaker 1: drafted ahead of him at the quarterback position in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: He could probably recite all the names in order. He
Speaker 1: can't tell you what team they play for. They're all gone.
Speaker 1: He's the only one. He's the only one left on
Speaker 1: his original team. But that's my point is that like
Speaker 1: all those things, he don't have to worry about his motivation.
Speaker 1: And now he's got you know, a you know, serious
Speaker 1: injury that he's on the way back from. Well on
Speaker 1: the way back from that's also a motivation Like that's
Speaker 1: you know, the great players feed off stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I think he's one of those guys. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the Cowboys. There's all this talk about what
Speaker 1: you have to pay Dak and how much is he
Speaker 1: accomplished to this point when you sign a guy to
Speaker 1: this magnitude, it's it's not necessarily who he is now
Speaker 1: compared to the top top quarterbacks in the league, the
Speaker 1: guys that are going to be in the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame that are still playing. It's what you think he
Speaker 1: can be. And I think the Cowboys, you know, it's
Speaker 1: red presentative of what they think he can still grow into.
Speaker 1: He doesn't turn twenty eight until July. There's still time
Speaker 1: for him to grow as a player. And that's what's
Speaker 1: one reason why they were comfortable getting this done. You know,
Speaker 1: let's let's remember this when we're talking about the numbers,
Speaker 1: and I said, one of the things I was excited
Speaker 1: about the most was the twenty two point two million
Speaker 1: dollars cap charge this year. Obviously, it's a forty million
Speaker 1: per year contracts, so that means that being said, if
Speaker 1: you're eighteen down this year, at some point, you're going
Speaker 1: to be eighteen over. So you know, and they're worried.
Speaker 1: You know, they'll get TV contracts and the cap will
Speaker 1: will go up, and they know how to kind of
Speaker 1: work that a little bit. But I still I just
Speaker 1: harp on the fact that you know, it's it's just
Speaker 1: rare to get a guy locked up like this on
Speaker 1: a deal this big and still lower his cap charge
Speaker 1: by nine million from last year and maybe fifteen for
Speaker 1: what it could have been. But I mean, he never
Speaker 1: played on the thirty eight, so it's hard to say that.
Speaker 1: But he played on a thirty one and he was
Speaker 1: good until he got hurt, for sure. I now now
Speaker 1: you know you're at twenty I do, and you have
Speaker 1: a chance. No, I'm sorry. I think that's really smart, though, Nick,
Speaker 1: because and I don't know the details of all of this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody does. Like as we record
Speaker 1: this right now, they're still weighing, you know, extending the
Speaker 1: franchise tag deadline because we still don't actually know what
Speaker 1: the salary cap is. So like there's a lot of
Speaker 1: moving parts. But tell me Jerry Jones doesn't know, Oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna frontload this bad boy because the TV deals
Speaker 1: are coming in the next year or two, and literally
Speaker 1: who's going to be surprised, you know, not to not
Speaker 1: to diminish COVID nineteen, but like people are getting vaccinated,
Speaker 1: it's starting to feel like normalcyes On the other you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's around the corner if it's not right here
Speaker 1: right now, but it's coming. The TV deals. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: knock on all of the wood, Yes, thank you, Rob,
Speaker 1: But like it it. It feels close, and we know
Speaker 1: these TV deals are getting negotiated right now. So who's
Speaker 1: to say, like, twelve months from now, this deal might
Speaker 1: look like a damn bargain and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be surprised if it does. When you consider Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Baker, Mayfield, whichever other quarterbacks are still coming.
Speaker 1: Like when those guys come up for deals and there's
Speaker 1: new TV money coming into the league, all bets are
Speaker 1: gonna be off. And that's why Dak wanted a short deal.
Speaker 1: But the Cowboys might as well take advantage of all that.
Speaker 1: They're gonna take these big cap hits for a year
Speaker 1: or two, and in a year maybe two, they're gonna
Speaker 1: feel really good that they did this. I'm very confident
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, And he'll be He'll be thirty one
Speaker 1: at the end of this deal, right, I believe. So
Speaker 1: it's it's he would still be in the writing his
Speaker 1: prime and you know, if if the deal works out
Speaker 1: the way the Boys think it will, they'll gladly go
Speaker 1: back to the the negotiating table. I mean, that's why there's
Speaker 1: a comfort level now in finally getting this thing done.
Speaker 1: You know, Cowboy fans and the NFL fans might be
Speaker 1: kind of confused tomorrow or freaked out or whatever. If
Speaker 1: they see a headline they probably will that says the
Speaker 1: Cowboys have placed the franchise tag on Dak Prescott. It's
Speaker 1: really just going to be to cover themselves if they
Speaker 1: end up doing that as a procedural thing, just because
Speaker 1: the deal hasn't been signed and won't be signed. So
Speaker 1: if they miss the if there is a deadline tomorrow
Speaker 1: and they miss it and don't sign them, who's to
Speaker 1: say the Cowboys wouldn't go shop this deal. That really
Speaker 1: wouldn't be good faith. But you probably will see them
Speaker 1: just put the tag on him just to cover themselves.
Speaker 1: So what a day? What a day? What a two years? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just gonna have actual news. I was
Speaker 1: thinking about the last four or five weeks, like there
Speaker 1: has been no news around this team. I mean, like
Speaker 1: the biggest news we've had is, oh, the college prote
Speaker 1: schedules coming out, you know, like wow, Like it's it's
Speaker 1: nice to have some news and some news that we've
Speaker 1: been waiting on. Right, well, I had I had my
Speaker 1: thoughts on who might break this story, But you're right,
Speaker 1: Scott of Goldnick, the Cowboys PR guy was not the
Speaker 1: one that I had pegged up there to break. I'm
Speaker 1: so happy to be wrong, obviously, Like I'm I'm ecstatic
Speaker 1: that this is done. I've never heard that on one
Speaker 1: of our podcast before. I just I would have bet,
Speaker 1: I would have bet my life that they that we
Speaker 1: were going to hit the deadline with no deal. And
Speaker 1: that's you know, it's probably why I scheduled a date
Speaker 1: for tonight. And yeah, you know we we break in
Speaker 1: some more notes. Yeah, we can talk about that though,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's nothing to talk about. It went, it
Speaker 1: went well. Uh, she was she was super clearly you're
Speaker 1: at home right now. She was very under she was
Speaker 1: very understanding of the fact that I had places to be.
Speaker 1: But whole I mean, we joke like we if you're
Speaker 1: if you don't work in this industry, maybe you don't understand.
Speaker 1: But like we joke all the time that the minute
Speaker 1: you try to make plans, that's when that's when it's
Speaker 1: gonna go down. And it was proven right once again.
Speaker 1: This evening, Chris, can we clip that off? Just cut
Speaker 1: that off and we can make that. We can make
Speaker 1: that at cowbites for sure. All Right, well, guys, as
Speaker 1: my ipass has five percent battery, it's a good time
Speaker 1: to maybe get out of this thing. But I mean,
Speaker 1: we've covered it, and this is this is, this is awesome,
Speaker 1: this is this is great news for the Cowboys, said,
Speaker 1: I think Rob you said it best. This is a
Speaker 1: win for everybody, really does. I mean that clearly he's
Speaker 1: got sixty six million dollars when he signs, you know,
Speaker 1: but a win for the cowboys though that that it
Speaker 1: worked out, and I think a win for Cowboy fans
Speaker 1: and a win for us that we can we can
Speaker 1: finally move on and talk about other things and not
Speaker 1: have every story we write with to say, oh cool,
Speaker 1: cool story on Connor McGovern signed Dac you know, agreed, agreed,
Speaker 1: get out of my mentions by all right. Well, I
Speaker 1: appreciate it, Chris. For Chris Beam and William Boykins were
Speaker 1: working at home doing some great stuff. We really appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Rob Phillips, David Holme, and I'm Nick Even. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time on Dallas Cowboys Dot com. This has
Speaker 1: been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot com and the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys Football Club.