Michael Irvin has seen the script play out before. His beloved Cowboys yet again close the season with one of the league’s most productive offenses, but not a playoff appearance. And the franchise quarterback? Dak Prescott played all 17 games, finished among the NFL’s passing leaders, and continued to operate at a level consistent with top-tier quarterbacks. But now, as he’s approaching mid 30s, and the roster is facing tightening financial constraints, the margin for delay has narrowed, setting the stage forIrvin to publicly challenge the franchise’s direction.

“That opportunity and that window must they must address it now,” Michael Irvin said during an interview with USA Today. “Right now. They have Dak, they have CeeDee, they have George. You’ve got to address it right now. You got Ferguson. But you’ve got to make those plays. You don’t have any more years to spend with Dak not being in the playoffs.”

Though he’s 32 now, Irvin’s point is important as the franchise has not one but two of the best receivers in the league. A couple of years later, these advantages may not even exist. Take the case of 2025 for example.

In 2025, Prescott was one of the silver linings on the Cowboys team. The quarterback tied Tony Romo’s franchise record of four seasons with 30 touchdowns or more. He also delivered one of the most productive campaigns of his career, finishing with 4,552 passing yards while leading the league in completions, a season that briefly placed him in the NFL MVP conversation before Dallas’ defensive struggles derailed the playoff push.

The Dallas Cowboys finished the 2025-26 season with a 7-9-1 record despite having one of the best offenses. America’s Team ranked second in total yards per game (391.9) and seventh in points per game (27.7), but the defense let them down, giving up over 30 points per game.

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These stellar numbers helped their star wide receivers, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, record 1000+ yard seasons each. Similarly, TE1 Jake Ferguson also had a breakout year with 82 catches for 600 yards and scored 8 touchdowns.

That offensive output is precisely why Prescott’s value to the franchise remains difficult to replace. Even in a season where the Cowboys failed to convert production into wins, the quarterback continued to elevate the offense at a level few teams can reliably sustain without an established, high-end signal-caller.

For Dallas, moving on from Prescott would not simply mean shedding a contract; it would mean reopening the most volatile position in professional sports while already attempting to fix a porous defense.

That challenge becomes even steeper when the salary cap is factored in. Prescott is scheduled to carry a projected 2026 cap hit of roughly $74 million, close to one-quarter of the Cowboys’ expected total cap, while the team as a whole is already estimated to be about $31 million over the limit. More importantly, his deal is loaded with prorated bonuses and guarantees that would trigger nearly $130 million in dead money if Dallas attempted to trade or release him. In practical terms, walking away from Prescott would damage the cap more than keeping him.

The only workable path forward is restructuring, converting large portions of his base salary into signing bonuses to spread the hit across future seasons. That maneuver can free roughly $30 million in immediate cap space, but it also pushes financial pressure further down the road. The Cowboys aren’t realistically choosing whether to keep Prescott; the contract has already made that decision for them. What they’re choosing is how aggressively to maneuver around his deal while trying to fix a roster that wasted elite quarterback play in 2025.

Despite it all, Irvin’s call for immediate action comes at a pivotal moment for Dallas, as the franchise faces a crucial decision regarding George Pickens’ future with the team.

Dallas could trade Pickens after franchise-tagging the WR

While defense remains the primary problem for the Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team is also facing a massive dilemma regarding star wideout George Pickens.

After trading for the 24-year-old ahead of the 2025 season, Pickens produced a career year with 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns. But now, as the wideout enters free agency, the Cowboys are rumored to trade Pickens after franchise-tagging him.

“The Cowboys have shown a willingness to trade their star players for significant draft pick compensation,” Insider Ian Rapoport said on NFL GameDay Morning, alluding to the blockbuster trade of Micah Parsons to the Packers. “Maybe those players have the same agent in David Mulugheta. I’m just saying, it’s an interesting situation to consider.”

From a cap standpoint, the logic is clear. Dallas already sits roughly $31 million over the 2026 limit, and applying the wide receiver franchise tag to Pickens would immediately add another $28 million to the books.

Keeping both Prescott at his current cap figure and Pickens on a tagged deal would all but eliminate the team’s ability to overhaul a defense that ranked among the league’s worst in points allowed. The front office is effectively being forced into a trade-off: preserve the offensive firepower that made Prescott so productive, or sacrifice one of its biggest weapons to stabilize the roster elsewhere.

By leveraging a tag-and-trade, Jerry Jones could avoid the full $28 million cap hit while acquiring draft capital to fuel a defensive rebuild. The move would signal a shift toward financial flexibility rather than maintaining the newly formed Lamb-Pickens tandem.

Even if Pickens is moved, the larger reality remains unchanged, Prescott is the centerpiece of Dallas’ competitive window. Through restructures and cap maneuvering, the Cowboys can create short-term relief and continue building around a quarterback who just delivered one of the most efficient seasons of his career. It’s not a painless strategy, but it is far safer than gambling on an uncertain reset at the most important position in football.

With defensive reinforcements also being actively worked on, there’s reason to believe that the coming year could see a strong run from the Cowboys. Whether that run materializes will depend less on Prescott’s ability, something he has consistently demonstrated, and more on whether the organization finally aligns its roster decisions with the urgency its own legends are demanding.