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NFL teams have to be careful how they allocate their salary cap, or else they will end up with a roster way out of balance. If you’re a team with a lot of star players at premium positions like the Dallas Cowboys, just a few players can take up a ton of cap space.
Dallas came into this season needing to get extensions done at various points before the 2025 season for players like Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, DaRon Bland, and Micah Parsons while already having Trevon Diggs locked up long-term. That’s a lot of salary that has to be paid to those guys if they want to keep a core together that has won 12 games three years in a row.
On Sunday, just hours before Dallas kicks off their season against the Cleveland Browns in the FOX NFL Game of the Week, the team agreed to a long-anticipated contract extension with franchise quarterback Dak Prescott. Frankly, it’s deal they had to get done to avoid a rebuild. But, the price tag is steep.
The deal is for four years, with $240 million total in the deal and a whopping $231 million guaranteed. It makes him the highest paid player and quarterback in the NFL.
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This comes just a week after giving CeeDee Lamb a 4-year, $136 million extension with $100 million guaranteed. And, assuming he has even an average season by his standards, Micah Parsons is likely to set the record for the largest contract ever handed out to a defensive player next offseason, a deal that could reach as much as $200 million in guaranteed money.
That’s going to be a lot of money tied up in the foursome of Prescott, Lamb, Parson, and Diggs heading into next year. That’s a good quartet to build around. But, the cap will get tight, and they will have to draft, develop, and bargain shop effectively to stay competitive at the top of the NFC.
The salary cap increases every year, and this year is just over $255 million