The Dallas Cowboys have been waiting nine years for Dak Prescott to lead them to a Super Bowl and plan to wait three more. Last year, the team extended their star player a four-year, $240 million contract, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL and, according to some analysts, one of the most overvalued in history.
The negotiations between Prescott and the Cowboys turned into a soap opera-worthy drama. Like any good television drama, the dilemma was resolved with Week 1 of the NFL just hours away, when Prescott signed the multimillion-dollar deal that gave him an $80 million signing bonus and an average salary of $60 million per year.
In any soap opera, that would have been the happy ending for the protagonist. In real life, Prescott missed nine of 17 games due to injury, and his performance alternated between excellent and abysmal games. Prescott’s ups and downs led Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon to rank him as the second-most overpaid player in history.
The Cowboys are overpaying prescott
The analyst didn’t mince words in his assessment of America’s Team star. He noted that Prescott has earned $247 million in his nine-year career, surpassing Super Bowl winners Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, and Peyton Manning in career earnings.
Gagnon admitted that Prescott has the eighth-best passer rating in history and has been selected to the Pro Bowl three times. However, he also noted that the quarterback “has missed large chunks of three of five seasons in his prime.”
Furthermore, Prescott “has continually come up short when it matters, with just two playoff wins in nearly a decade.” With Prescott under center, the Cowboys have reached the postseason five times, but the furthest they’ve gone is the divisional round in 2018 and 2022.
Is anyone more overpaid than Prescott?
Still, it’s worth remembering that Prescott doesn’t top Gagnon’s list. The dubious honor goes to Atlanta Falcons signal-caller Kirk Cousins, who has accumulated $294 million in earnings over 13 seasons despite winning only one postseason game.
Sam Bradford is third with $130 million over eight years, Deshaun Watson is fourth with $189 million over eight seasons, and Jay Cutler rounds the top five with $128 million over 12 seasons.
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