Joe Burrow’s contract with Cincinnati Bengals will impact Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys

The NFL returned on Thursday night and suddenly everything felt right again. News is also happening during the first game of the season. Just moments after the first toe met the first ball of the season, word broke across the NFL that the Cincinnati Bengals handed quarterback Joe Burrow the richest contract in NFL history.

The exact numbers for Burrow are massive. It is reportedly a 5-year, $275M deal that includes over $219M guaranteed.

It wasn’t long ago that the idea of a quarterback making $50M per year felt inevitable, but still out of this world. Burrow has taken the mark halfway to the next degree at $55M/year and he is the fourth signal-caller to cross $50M on an annual basis this offseason alone.

You know what that means.

The quarterback market just went up which means so did the future contract for Dak Prescott

Facts are what they are. If you do not know by now that the quarterback market only continues to rise at an exponential level, then you are not paying attention to what has been happening.

Dak Prescott inked his current deal with the Cowboys just two offseasons ago and is already trailing a number of people in terms of annual average value.

Broken down into brass tax the rules are pretty simple here: the next guy gets a little bit more than the last guy. It is not a secret that the most recent contracts here are those belonging to (in most recent order) Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts.

This conversation is important because Dak Prescott essentially needs a contract extension from the Cowboys by next offseason at the latest. Prescott’s cap number for 2024 is just south of $60M which effectively forces the team to bring that number down by way of an extension. Given that Prescott has a no tag and no trade clause in his current deal, the Cowboys do not have a lot of negotiating ground to stand on.

It will be said that Dak should not venture into this financial territory unless the Cowboys achieve something remarkable in 2023; however, that isn’t really how any of this works. Prescott may not be the quarterback that Burrow is, but the market rises independent of the next guy being ranked higher than the last by PFF score. Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson have their detractors yet are just below Burrow in this capacity. The market is what the market is.

Burrow’s deal landed just one day after the San Francisco 49ers got one done with star pass rusher Nick Bosa, something that will greatly impact the negotiations that Dallas has with Micah Parsons when he first becomes eligible next offseason. At present time Burrow and Bosa are the highest-paid players on the offensive and defensive side of the ball in NFL history, and it is very possible that the Cowboys have to rise above both of them to retain the services of Prescott and Parsons for 2024 and beyond.

Buckle up and get ready.