Cowboys draft trade proposal involving Dak Prescott and Trevor Lawrence. Should it even be considered?

With the Dallas Cowboys seemingly heading to a high draft pick in the 2021 draft, there will be plenty of talk about what they may do with that pick between now and April. We’ve already started taking a look at the possibilities in the top five. If you have a top five pick, the variable of a quarterback is always the big factor.

If you need a quarterback, there is no better time to draft one than when you have a high draft pick. If you don’t need one, there is the opportunity to work out a trade with a quarterback-hungry team. For the Cowboys, they are kind of in a grey zone. They don’t technically have a quarterback since Dak Prescott will be a free agent at the end of 2020. They do have the franchise tag, which gives them one year at a very high price, and the hopes of reaching a long-term deal, but that isn’t a solid thing. The Cowboys quarterback future isn’t set in stone just yet.

With all of that, there are trade proposals already being thought up. Of course, when you can include the Cowboys name in these trade proposals, it’s all the better for “clicks”. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any validity in them. When heading into a draft, teams need to entertain all kinds of possibilities before discarding most of them.

So we now have this one, from Mike Renner at PFF. Check it out.

Essentially his scenario plays out like this. The New York Jets eventually earn the number one pick, and Trevor Lawrence pulls an Eli Manning and tells them he will not play for them. So the Jets trade that pick to the Cowboys, who in return send their first-round pick (likely in the top five) and Dak Prescott for the rights to get Lawrence.

The idea here is that the Cowboys are going to be hard up against the cap which is supposed to fall for 2021 because of COVID, and that they could use a quarterback on the rookie scale that will be much cheaper than keeping Prescott. You have to go with the assumption here that Lawrence is going to be somewhat an adequate replacement for Prescott in terms of success on the field.

It also assumes that there is some kind of sigh-and-trade deal or a promise from Prescott to sign a long-term deal with the Jets, because it’s hard to believe that the Jets would make such a move if Prescott is just going to play 2021 under the franchise tag for the team.

The Last Word on Sports addresses some of this in their analysis of the proposed trade.

Yes, Dak Prescott would be the best quarterback the New York Jets have had in a very long time right away. That is though, assuming he is healthy. The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback was having a historic start to the season before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 5. There also is the fact Prescott would be traded on a tag. Meaning either he plays a one-year deal, or the more likely scenario demands a hefty deal before the season. Ultimately, trading the first overall pick for the injured Dak Prescott and one first would be an uncharacteristic gamble for [Jets GM Joe] Douglas.

Putting aside all the contract machinations it would take to make this deal work concerning Prescott, and focusing just on the trade - would you do it? Would you trade Prescott and, say, the fifth-overall pick, for the rights to get Trevor Lawrence on a much cheaper five-year deal?

It really hinges on how good of a player you think Lawrence will be in the NFL, and what the Cowboys could do to fill out their roster with the money saved. With Prescott, the Cowboys know what they’re getting, but that will come at a price.

So what say you BTB. Yea nor nay.