Cowboys’ Dak Prescott to have historic 2024 cap hit after restructuring contract
Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys are an ideal example of teams pushing back salary cap decisions to later years, pretty much putting themselves in salary cap hell in the process.
Dallas entered Friday’s business day $18.75 million over the 2023 NFL salary cap, the third-worst number in the league. The team needed to make several moves in order to become cap compliant.
Owner Jerry Jones and Co. restructured multiple contracts to help, including saving $30 million by reworking the contracts Prescott and guard Zack Martin.
While the short-term savings are great, these moves will have a long-term impact on Dallas’ salary cap health.
According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, Prescott’s cap hit for the 2024 season is now expected to be a record $59 million. That’s roughly $5 million more than what Deshaun Watson is slated to count against the Cleveland Browns’ salary cap in 2023.
Despite missing five games to injury, Prescott finished the 2022 season leading the league with 15 interceptions. It was a surprisingly poor performance from a quarterback who has historically done well avoiding turnovers.
From a larger-scale perspective, the decision to restructure Prescott’s contract creates some issues down the road. However, there’s also a good chance that Dallas opts to simply sign the Pro Bowl quarterback to a contract extension. While it would link him to the Cowboys longer term, that $59 million cap hit in 2024 just isn’t sustainable.
