2021 NFL free agency preview: Cowboys QB Dak Prescott isn’t going anywhere — right?

Free agency begins March 17. Who are the best players available? And will the Dolphins make a play for them? We explore in this series of player profiles ahead of the league new year.

Dak Prescott

2020 team: Dallas Cowboys.

Position: Quarterback.

Age: 27.

ESPN free agent ranking: 1.

2020 stats: 68 percent completions, 9 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, 8.4 yards per attempt, 99.6 passer rating, 78.7 QBR.

2020 salary: $31.4 million.

Market value (per Spotrac): Four years, $147 million.

Player summary: The Cowboys’ 2020 Super Bowl hopes ended when Prescott went down in Week 5 with a compound ankle fracture, a major injury that came at a terrible time for him personally. Prescott was playing under the franchise tag, as the Cowboys had balked at giving him a big-money, long-term deal. He’s on track to make a full recovery, but still doesn’t have his coveted extension. Expect the Cowboys to either give him one or tag him again — at a staggering sum: $37.7 million, which would account for roughly one-fifth of Dallas’ total salary cap.

Likelihood he joins the Dolphins: Basically zero. The only way the Cowboys let Prescott go is if they get a trade offer they cannot refuse. The Dolphins would consider such a swap for a healthy, affordable and elite player like Deshaun Watson. But given Prescott’s injury history, his desire to break the bank and the organization’s willingness to roll with Tua Tagovailoa, we just don’t see any way it happens.

Quotable: “I don’t know how you could have any more leverage. ... His evolving into an NFL quarterback has been nothing short of a perfect picture. He has great ability, in my mind, to win games. He’s talented. He certainly has the experiences and he has all the things, which has been substantiated by what we’ve offered Dak. You wouldn’t offer Dak what we offered in the past if you’d not thought he was very special. The issue is, how do you come together? And that’s no stranger to me. I’ve been doing it all my life, putting things together. We’ve got to get it together.” — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Dak Prescott.

This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 9:21 AM.

Adam H. Beasley

Miami Herald

305-376-2387

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996. Support my work with a digital subscription