Dak Prescott put pen to paper on his exclusive franchise tag.
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback signed the one-year tender worth $31.4 million on Monday, the team announced.
The move was expected after the team's virtual offseason ended. If Prescott planned to hold out beyond the spring program -- which the QB eschewed -- he wouldn't have signed the tender. The signing means Prescott will attend Mike McCarthy's first training camp in Dallas.
Both sides have until July 15 to work out a long-term contract, or Prescott will play 2020 on the franchise tag. The Cowboys could use the tag again next year if a multi-year pact isn't reached.
The Cowboys have used the franchise tag eight times since 1993 on six players (DeMarcus Lawrence and Anthony Spencer twice each), per NFL Research. Dallas worked out long-term deals in three of the previous seven instances (Lawrence, Dez Bryant and Ken Hamlin). Two of those three long-term deals were signed on the July 15 deadline (Bryant, Hamlin).
Prescott's signature on the franchise tender makes him the ninth of 14 tagged players to ink their one-year deals ahead of the July deadline -- A.J. Green, Chris Jones, Yannick Ngakoue, Shaquil Barrett and Justin Simmons are the remaining five.
Prescott, a two-time Pro Bowler, signing his tender isn't an indication a deal will come down sooner than next month's deadline. The biggest holdup in contract talks is less about the monetary figures per year and more about the number of seasons included. The Cowboys reportedly want a five-year contract while Prescott would prefer four years, and get to free agency again at the age of 30.
