One strong reason Dak is in his lofty position was the fact he had a superb team around him when Tony Romo went down. Good coaching and those teammates helped him excel. Which is better: a great, expensive quarterback with a poorly paid team or a young, decent QB with a quality team? – BOB WHITING / CAMAS, WA
David: That's probably one of the biggest debates in the NFL today – and we've seen it work both ways. For all the hand-wringing that people do about quarterback salaries, teams like San Francisco, Green Bay and Pittsburgh have proven that you can achieve team success while still paying your quarterback a lot of money. At the same time, it sure would be nice to catch lightning in a bottle like Seattle did with Russell Wilson or Kansas City did with Patrick Mahomes. But that's way easier said than done. So, all things being equal, I'll take my chances with the great quarterback.
Jonny: That question is almost impossible to answer. It depends on just how great that expensive quarterback is or just how stacked that quality team is. I will sort of cheat and say that the best option is to build that quality team in the last two years the great quarterback is on his rookie deal. The Cowboys didn't pull that off. If the two options are a toss up, I'd take the one right in front of you with a well-paid Dak.
So just say Dak and the Cowboys come to an agreement without being tagged. Would it be possible that we would then have enough money to be big players in free agency? – CHAD COWDEN / REPUBLIC, MO
David: Just to strictly answer your question, yes. If the Cowboys signed Dak for a multi-year deal, they could bring down his cap hit from $38 million, re-structure some other contracts and have money under the cap. Even if this happens, though, history suggests this team doesn't want to splash cash around on outside free agents. Hopefully this year they'll be willing to spend a bit more than they have in the past, but don't get your hopes up that the Cowboys are going to be major players. That's not what they do.
Jonny: They would have some money to spend, but I'd be surprised if they manage to make a run at a player that really excited the average fan. They need to draft well. They need the players who were injured last season to return to their previous form. And they'd need Dak to play as well as anyone in the league. Will all that happen? Who knows? But it's hard to win a Super Bowl. They won't get there by adding a big name with free agency money, at least not this year
