In this Aug. 24 file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson speaks to the media after an NFL preseason game in Detroit. Photo by The Associated Press
Dak Prescott is going to get paid either way. Dallas’ star quarterback wants to get paid with the Cowboys, but that question remains in the final year of his current contract. Russell Wilson is in Pittsburgh after two mostly miserable years in Denver. The end may be near for the former Seattle star. Wilson has not been announced as a starter by the Steelers, who traded for Justin Fields after acquiring Wilson. For Prescott and Wilson, and others, the win-or-lose situations look and feel a little different, but they are still win-or-lose situations.
Dak Prescott is expected to get paid by Dallas or another team willing to pay him more than $50 million per year if the Cowboys terminate his contract after this season.
Russell Wilson has not been announced as Pittsburgh’s Opening Day starter, but this could be the nine-time Pro Bowl selection’s final chance to revive a career that has stalled since his star days with Seattle.
For players in potential win-or-lose situations like Prescott and Wilson, the predicament looks and feels a little different, but it’s still a predicament.
In Prescott’s case, he was the runner-up in MVP voting last season and is eager to lead the Cowboys to something they haven’t reached in nearly three decades: advancement beyond the divisional round of the playoffs.
After suffering his worst career failure last season in a shocking home wild-card loss to Green Bay, Prescott is facing questions about whether he can do what Tony Romo failed to do in his decade as a starter.
It will be the ninth try for the 31-year-old, who is in the final season of a club-record $160 million, four-year contract.
The first was with fellow first-year star Ezekiel Elliott in the backfield, who had a dynamic rookie season and led Dallas to the top seed in the NFC, only to lose in their playoff debut to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
The Cowboys have said they want to keep him, and Prescott, who started in place of an injured Romo during the first training camp, has said he wants to stay with the team.
But the 2016 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year will remain a lame-duck quarterback in 2024. The Cowboys are in their 28th year and counting since their last appearance in the NFC Championship Game. Dallas ended the 1995 season with its fifth Super Bowl victory.
“I don’t think that’s pressure.” “I’m not sure what to do,” Prescott said during training camp in California this month. “I’m not necessarily worried about that talk. I’m confident we can get something done. I have confidence in the front office here. I’m under contract now, so all I need to do is do my job the best I can.”
Quarterbacks who are pressed for time or are in a potentially tricky situation:
Russell Wilson
The 35-year-old joins the Steelers after two largely miserable seasons with Denver, where he signed a big contract extension following a trade that ended his decade-long Super Bowl winning streak with the Seahawks.
Days later, Pittsburgh acquired Justin Fields in a trade after Chicago decided to give up the 11th overall pick in 2021, paving the way for the Bears to take Caleb Williams at the top of this year’s draft.
Wilson has always been expected to start, but if Wilson continues to play like the player he has been, compiling a 17-27 record as a starter over the past three seasons, Fields will be ready to go.
Wilson was slowed by a calf injury in training camp and didn’t lead either quarterback to a touchdown in the first two preseason games, before managing just one touchdown march each in the preseason finale.
And Fields has no plans to go away quietly.
“I think I’ve proven myself.” Fields said last week. “I think the time I spent practicing (with the first team) in training camp went well. I think I improved a lot every day, but at the end of the day, it’s not up to me.”
Daniel Jones
The former Duke University quarterback has been dogged by questions about whether he is the answer for the Giants ever since New York made him a surprise selection sixth overall in the 2019 draft.
Jones is just coming off an ACL injury that ended his 2023 season in November. The 1-5 record was his fourth losing season in his five years with the Giants, but after his lone winning season in 2022, when he led the Giants to the playoffs, Jones signed a $160 million contract extension, half of which is guaranteed money.
New York will have to make a financial decision about Jones’ roster spot when the new league year begins next spring, but waiving him would generate significant savings under the salary cap.
Derek Carr
The Raiders gave up on Carr’s contract in 2022 after his ninth season with Oakland/Las Vegas, and Carr signed with New Orleans as a free agent last year.
Like so many times with the franchise that drafted him, his debut with the Saints came very close to a playoff appearance: Carr was panned and booed in the first half of the season, but played well late and New Orleans missed the playoffs due to a tiebreaker.
Entering his 11th season, Carr has never led a playoff team to a win and has only appeared with two teams, his closest opportunity coming in 2016 when he suffered a broken leg in Week 16 while 12-win Oakland lost to Houston in the wild-card round.
The Saints have a new offensive coordinator in Klint Kubiak, and based on the structure of his $150 million, four-year contract, it’s realistic for Carr to play two more seasons.
Jalen Hurts
It seems odd to select a quarterback who finished second to Patrick Mahomes in 2022 MVP voting and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl where the Eagles lost to Mahomes and Kansas City.
That said, 2023 has been a crazy season for Hurts and company.
The Eagles started 10-1 but lost six of their final seven games, including a 32-9 loss in the wild-card game at Tampa Bay.
Coach Nick Sirianni bore the brunt of the blame, but a surprising number of questions were raised immediately after Hurts signed a five-year, $255 million contract extension.
That contract means Hurts isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but the 26-year-old and his team are once again in need of a turnaround as quick as the one that marred last season.
Kirk Cousins
There’s no question that the former Minnesota quarterback is Atlanta’s new starter, as the $180 million contract Cousins signed with the Falcons in March comes with $100 million guaranteed.
What’s interesting is that less than two months after Atlanta signed Cousins, they drafted Michael Pennis Jr. with the eighth overall pick. Pennis, 36, said he was fine with that, and the Falcons said they were just thinking about the team’s future because Pennis was available at the time of the selection.
None of that could stop the NFL-wide upheaval.
“Kirk Cousins is our franchise quarterback. He’s our starting quarterback. And he seems to be doing great … so we couldn’t be happier with the situation.” “It’s a great feeling,” said Falcons owner Arthur Blank, 81. “But as you get older, it starts to creep up. Let me just give you a little bit of my own personal opinion on that.”
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