The Cowboys haven't played tag too often over the last 27 years, but Dak Prescott is the most recent player to receive the franchise tender.
Here's what we know: Prescott, at the moment, will make a club-record $31.4 million on the franchise tag in 2020 unless he and the Cowboys can reach a long-term extension by July 15.
The tag – a one-year, guaranteed contract comprising the average of the NFL's top salaries at a player's specific position – has been used eight times by the Cowboys since the league adopted it in 1993. Primarily, it has been a placeholder to continue negotiating a new deal with a key starter. That's the goal with Prescott, too.
Let's look back at the Cowboys' past tag decisions and how they panned out:
The Cowboys haven't played tag too often over the last 27 years, but Dak Prescott is the most recent player to receive the franchise tender.
Flozell Adams (2002): After completing his fourth NFL season, Adams became the first Cowboys player to receive the tag. The former second-round pick played the 2002 season on the $4.9 million tender. The following spring, with new head coach Bill Parcells' blessing, the Cowboys signed Adams to a lucrative five-year extension. He went on to make the Pro Bowl five of the next six years at left tackle.
Ken Hamlin (2008): The Cowboys franchised Hamlin ($4.4 million) after he delivered a Pro Bowl season on a one-year deal in 2007, helping Dallas win a franchise-record tying 13 games. The Cowboys signed Hamlin to a new six-year, $39 million contract a few months after franchising him. He was released in 2010 after recording one interception the first two years of the new deal.
Anthony Spencer (2012): Spencer, one of two Cowboys first-round picks in 2007, played on the one-year, $8.8 million tag in 2012. He delivered a career-high 94 tackles and 11 sacks to make his first and only Pro Bowl.
Anthony Spencer (2013): Spencer became the first Cowboys player to receive the tag in consecutive years. He signed it a week after the Cowboys issued the one-year, $10.6 million tender, but played only one game due to a knee injury that required microfracture surgery. He played only one more season with the Cowboys.
Dez Bryant (2015): This one went right down to the buzzer. After Bryant skipped offseason workouts seeking a long-term deal, he and the Cowboys agreed to a five-year, $70 million contract just before the July 15, 2015 negotiating deadline. Injuries limited him to 22 games over the next two years, and the Cowboys released him after the 2018 season.
DeMarcus Lawrence (2018): Lawrence signed his first franchise tag hours after the Cowboys offered him the one-year, $17.1 million tender. Fresh off a 2017 season in which he posted 14.5 sacks, the most by a Cowboys player since DeMarcus Ware's 15.5 in 2010, Lawrence set out to produce another Pro Bowl season.
DeMarcus Lawrence (2019): Lawrence did just that, making his second career Pro Bowl with 10.5 sacks despite a shoulder injury that required surgery. The Cowboys initially franchised him again ($20.5 million) but both sides worked out a club-record $105 million extension in April 2019.
Dak Prescott (2020): The Cowboys' front office has stated their top offseason priority is re-signing Prescott long term after his career season in 2019. Prescott has said repeatedly over the past year that he wants to be a Cowboy long term. Will a deal get done in the next three weeks? We'll just have to wait and see.
