Nearly five years ago, the numbers swirling around a Dak Prescott contract extension seemed staggering. In the midst of uncomfortable negotiations between the Dallas Cowboys and their star quarterback, a very round and seemingly unbelievable number emerged in the summer of 2019:
$40 million. Per season.
The Cowboys had waited too long to get ahead of the contract market, painting themselves into a negotiating corner and watching Prescott bet on himself and a perpetually quarterback-starved league. And the predictable outcome was coming closer to fruition with each passing day: Dallas was going to pay a lot more than it or anyone else had imagined.