Dak Prescott Resets the Market & a Complicated Trent Williams Contract
Let's dive into the new contracts of Dak Prescott and Trent Williams
Two new NFL player contracts caught my attention over the past weekend: Dak Prescott's market-resetting contract with the Dallas Cowboys and Trent Williams' revised contract with the San Francisco 49ers. I'll explain today’s Cap & Trade Newsletter.
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Hey everyone! TC here, back after a wild and fun Week 1 of football. The Houston Texans squeezed out a victory against their division-rival Indianapolis Colts in a game that was probably closer than it should have been.
In this Cap & Trade Newsletter, I wanted to dive into two new player contracts recently signed over the past weekend. Specifically, the 4-year contract extension Dak Prescott signed with the Dallas Cowboys; and the revised 3-year contract Trent Williams signed with the San Francisco 49ers.
1. Dak Prescott
4-year extension worth $240.0 million
On Sunday, September 8, the news broke on Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys agreeing to a record-setting 4-year contract extension worth $240.0 million (new money). The contract includes $129.0 million in full guaranteed money and $231.0 million in total guarantees. Prescott reportedly also received a no-trade and no-franchise tag clause.
The preliminary contract details were provided by Mike Florio at Profootball Talk. For clarification, I have not reviewed the contract book itself as of yet.
Salary Cap Table from Overthecap:
This contract reset the market for the quarterback position at $60.0 million average per year (APY) in new money. New money is the consensus metric for contract value comparison. The total paper value (or effective value) for the contract is 5 years $274.0 million.
To understand this contract we need to take a step back to look at how the two sides arrived. Dallas had previously completed contract restructures on Prescott’s previous contract starting in 2021 through 2024 with a final restructure earlier this offseason.
This series of restructures pushed cap dollars forward creating a high-leverage situation for Prescott heading into the final year of his contract. The previous contract also contained a no-trade and no-franchise tag clause. The multiple restructures created a balloon salary cap charge of $55.13 million for the 2024 league year.
Leverage full to Dak Prescott!
Before this new extension, Prescott would have been an unrestricted free agent in March of 2025 free to negotiate with any team. The floor for Prescott’s market would have been $60 million APY.
We (at Overthecap) are speculating that Dallas has incorporated multiple void years as placement holders for salary cap reasons when Dallas ultimately completes maximum restructures in 2025 and 2026 as part of their salary cap model.
Prescott’s camp knew this, Dallas knew this…and the two parties landed directly on the $60 million APY number. How does this stack up against the market?
The new money APY of $60.0 million is now at the top of the market for the quarterback position and all NFL players.
Compared to the historical percentage against the salary cap the Prescott contract is not the top tier contract. APY percentage against the salary cap assists in measuring contract inflation.
The strongest metrics of Prescott’s new contract are the guaranteed money and the guarantee structure. The contract contains a “year early” vesting schedule, which makes it difficult for a team to exit a contract.
The “year early” definition is the vesting dates for subsequent guarantees vest (become fully guaranteed) a year in advance.
Example: Prescott has a $40.0 million salary in 2026 which is guaranteed for injury only at signing. The guarantee will vest to a full guarantee for skill, cap, and injury on March 18, 2025; a year in advance of the scheduled salary year. Additionally, Prescott’s $45.0 million salary in 2027 becomes fully guaranteed on March 18, 2026.
Here we can view the cumulative cash flow for each player starting with Year 0 (the extension year before the new money year). This table highlights Joe Burrow’s contract strength despite a lower new money APY of $55.0 million. Through Year 2, Burrow’s cash flow is still outpacing Prescott’s before Year 3 where the order flips to Prescott.
In summary, the Dak Prescott contract will be considered the top-of-the-market contract. In reality, the Joe Burrow contract remains the strongest contract on the market.
Trent Williams
An interesting contract signed over the past weekend was the revised 3-year contract between OT Trent Williams and the San Francisco 49ers.
3-Year Contract worth $82.66 million
Trent Williams was in the middle of a contract holdout with San Francisco through training camp and the preseason. Williams is no stranger to holdouts, as he has done in the past with the Washington Commanders.
Previously Williams was under contract through the 2026 season for $77.31 million with zero guaranteed money remaining.
Seeing a market adjustment by Penei Sewell at $28.0 million and Tristan Wires at $28.125 million APY respectively, Williams had his mind set on completing two tasks: 1. Readjust and gain new guaranteed money 2. Earn as much cash as possible up front in the contract.
With the new contract, Williams received a $25.69 million signing bonus and a $19.845 million salary advance from his 2025 pay, setting Williams to earn $47.495 million in 2024 and into the first part of the 2025 calendar year (which is still part of the 2024 league year).
I have not seen the contract workbook yet (likely to be had in a few weeks) but I would expect the signing bonus to be paid out over 4 payments through April 2025, on top of the 36-week paycheck schedule to cover both the $1.210 million base salary and 2025 salary advance.
From a salary cap perspective, salary advances are treated as Other Amounts Treated as Signing Bonuses, or OATSB. The CBA rules for OATSB treatment can be found here under Article 13, Section 6, Part B(III).
We rarely see salary advances in today’s contracts much less a $19.845 million advance. Trent Williams wanted to earn as much money as possible in the first 12 months of his new contract and achieved that goal.
Thanks for reading,
-TC