Ron Jenkins / Associated Press
With training camps slated to begin in a few weeks, the NFL plans to resume operations as usual soon – at least as “usual” as it all happens in 2020.
However, a little business over the past week was anything but usual: the 10-year extension that the Kansas City Chiefs gave to star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The deal, which could push half a billion dollars north, has not only reset the market to the quarter position. It was the biggest contract in the history of professional sport.
The extension of Mahomes could have a major impact on negotiations between the teams and a few other young quarters who are looking for new contracts.
Dak Prescott
The clock is ticking on Prescott and the Cowboys who agree on a long-term extension. If they don’t agree to the terms by July 15, Prescott will play on the $ 31.4 million franchise tender in 2020 and become a free agent the next off-season.
No one should expect Prescott to reach a deal that approaches the extension of Mahomes. In three seasons in the NFL, Mahomes has already won a Super Bowl and an MVP award. Meanwhile, some league members believe Prescott is barely a quarterback among the top 10, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
“He will be paid as one of the best, but he is certainly not in the top 5 or the top 10 marginal,” said an AFC official. “This great rookie season allowed him to cross another level that he was never going to really reach. The bar is raised high and I don’t know if he can reach it. He didn’t launch it as well since [2016]. “
Michael Ainsworth / Associated Press
However, Prescott wouldn’t want a deal like the one Mahomes got – at least in one respect. According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, the sticking point between Prescott and the Cowboys is not so much the money as the length of the contract. The Cowboys’ latest offer is for five years, but Prescott is looking for a four-year deal to get another bite of the free agent apple faster.
In terms of leverage, Dallas has barely left. Prescott has no real incentive to run to the table and sign an offer. Not with more than $ 31 million in guaranteed money waiting for it. If the Cowboys label it again in 2021, that number will reach $ 38 million, by Archer. A third straight label would exceed $ 50 million.
He could actually get what he wants a year at a time.
Not only that, but the new Mahomes expansion won’t reduce Prescott’s salary requirements. If you consider this contract as a 12-year deal, it averages $ 39.75 million per season, per Archer. In terms of “new” funds, that figure rises to $ 45 million per season.
For the Cowboys to have any hope of biting Prescott in a fifth year, an extension may have to cost an average of more than $ 40 million a year, with more than 60 percent of the total pact guaranteed. This is certainly unlikely, because Prescott and his camp have stood their ground as far as the duration of the pact they are looking for.
That leaves the Cowboys with two options. The first is to acquiesce and give Prescott a four-year contract that looks like an optimized version of Russell Wilson’s agreement with the Seattle Seahawks ($ 35 million per season with $ 107 million guaranteed). In other words, they could increase their last offer a little bit per year and give in to length.
The second option is to play 2020 and start again next spring.
As noted by CowboyMaven’s Mike Fisher, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones once said “the deadlines are right”. This may still be the case this time.
According to NFL Research, of the eight quarters of NFL history that were franchised, only two (Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins) played the following season under this label. The two eventually signed with new teams.
Deshaun Watson
In Interstate 45 in Houston, there is another young quarterback approaching his own salary, the one whose career has been linked to Mahomes from the start.
In 2017, the Houston Texans selected Deshaun Watson two choices after the Chiefs took Mahomes. Watson didn’t excel quite like Mahomes (who did?), But he was exceptional in his own right. In each of the past two years, he led Houston to the playoffs and made the Pro Bowl.
Now entering his fourth season, Watson is approaching overtime.
“You have to do the best job you can to make sure you take care of your quarterback,” Texans head coach and general manager Bill O“Brien told reporters at the combine in February, by Mark lane by Texans Wire. “I think it’s important when you have a great young quarterback. But at the same time, you have to have a team around him. So there are a lot of challenges to that.”
Ed Zurga / Associated Press
The hardest part for Texans is that Watson is even less in love with a Mahomes deal than Prescott, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. He would only seek three more years to extend his term in order to strike at free will again as soon as possible.
On the one hand, it seems obvious to O’Brien and the Texans. Watson quickly became one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL – the type of player who can sometimes carry his team.
“This Buffalo playoff game (last year)–they won this match because of this guy. No one else, “said a veteran offensive coach to Fowler.” They had at least three free kicks behind him and he made huge plays. “
But the Texans also carry more weight on Watson than the Cowboys on Prescott. After choosing Watson’s fifth year option of $ 17.3 million for 2021, they will not have to use the franchise label on him until 2022 at the earliest.
That doesn’t stop the Texans from giving Watson an extension, but the Cowboys are under much more pressure to strike a deal with Prescott. The Texans can also continue to negotiate with Watson’s camp in the fall if they wish, unlike the Cowboys and Prescott.
If the Texans extend Watson into 2020, it will be because they want it – not because they need it.
Once Prescott and Watson arrive at the checkout, it will be Lamar Jackson’s turn.
And then things go really become interesting.
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