The Dallas Cowboys are America’s Team for a reason—big games, big stars, and even bigger storylines. But now, just months ahead of the 2025 NFL season, a bombshell development has emerged from inside The Star in Frisco. A quietly embedded clause in Dak Prescott’s contract has come to light, and it’s sent tremors through the organization, raising serious concerns about the team’s future flexibility, roster construction, and even leadership stability.
As the Cowboys prepare for the NFL Draft and navigate one of the most pivotal offseasons in recent franchise history, the revelation of this clause—a rarely used “automatic no-tag” stipulation—has left them in a financial and strategic bind that no one saw coming, or at least, no one outside the building.
A Contract Cloaked in Complexity
When Dak Prescott signed his four-year, $160 million extension with the Cowboys in 2021, it was widely viewed as a win for both sides. Prescott secured generational wealth and long-term security after a devastating ankle injury, while the Cowboys locked up their franchise quarterback in his prime. The deal included a $66 million signing bonus and $126 million guaranteed—record-setting at the time.
But buried within the fine print of the contract was a provision that now looms large: a clause that prevents the Cowboys from applying the franchise tag on Prescott once his deal expires after the 2024 season. That’s right—come March 2025, Prescott can walk into unrestricted free agency, and Dallas will be powerless to stop it.
This kind of clause is exceedingly rare, especially for quarterbacks. Teams have traditionally used the franchise tag as a tool to retain control over elite talent—particularly quarterbacks—buying time to negotiate long-term deals or bide time for succession plans. But for Dallas, that safeguard is off the table.
And now, they’re caught flat-footed.
How Did This Happen?
To understand the magnitude of the situation, one must revisit the negotiation timeline between Prescott and the Cowboys in the years leading up to his current deal. For two years, the Cowboys dragged their feet on committing long-term to Prescott. He played on the franchise tag in 2020 and suffered a season-ending injury, yet still bet on himself—and won.
By the time the Cowboys returned to the table, Prescott and his representatives had the leverage. He was healthy again, performing at a high level, and the team had no succession plan in place. In exchange for agreeing to a four-year deal rather than a five-year one, Prescott’s agent reportedly insisted on the “no-tag” clause as a measure of control and freedom at the end of the deal.