Dont get me wrong, I love Dak in many ways but I am concerned about his passing accuracy, ability to read defenses, anticipate throws, etc and I honestly dont know what the hell I'm looking at so it makes me wonder if my naive eyes can see this, what dont I see? I guess the answer to that could be good or bad. He strikes me as good enough to win provided he has a good team around him but not good enough to carry the team by himself, so some of his salary has to go to his team mates so they all can win, both on the field and financially for years to come.
What I'd like Dallas to do is leverage the fact Dak is only getting paid about $1.4 Million (IIRC) in 2019 and do a 3 year contract now that allows Dak to make say $20 million in 2019 (an 18.6 million dollar increase in his 2019 Salary), $23 million in 2020 & $25 million in 2021 and then I'd guarantee 100% of the contract and emphasize he'll more than make up any perceived underpayment by getting more money outside of football in Dallas than he would with any other team.
This would cost the team an average of $22.7 million per year in real and cap dollars and give them a solid 3 year look before they commit to a 3rd contract. In turn, this would give Dak a nice chunk of cash guaranteed that should set him up for life.
If Dak kicks ass, he'll get a bank breaking 3rd contract, if he doesnt, then the Cowboys will have slightly overpaid but at least they can walk away completely in 3 years.
If Dak refuses and Dallas holds tight and lets him play out 2019, his value could go up or down. Lets say it takes a slight bump and he gets a deal for $35 million per season in 2020 & 2021 but only 50 mill is guaranteed, he'd end up with $51.4 million guaranteed after playing 2019 at 1.4 million at the risk of a catastrophic injury and over the same three years would make 71.4 million whereas if he took the deal I propose, he'd make $68 million but all of it guaranteed plus a huge payday on his 3rd deal coming if he outplayed his contract or he would have gotten away with robbing the bank should he regress, fall off a cliff or have a career ending injury.
obviously these numbers aren't absolute but it does illustrate how there is an opportunity to leverage the fact Dak is getting underpaid for 2019 and I think we would all agree he's being underpaid at 1.4 million