Can Rams beat the clock against Cowboys market-setting contract for Prescott?

The LA Rams contract negotiations are suddenly a race against time. The team hopes to finalize any contract with QB Matthew Stafford before the Cowboys ink QB Dak Prescott to a market-setting deal.
Los Angeles Rams v Dallas Cowboys, Matthew Stafford
Los Angeles Rams v Dallas Cowboys, Matthew Stafford / Cooper Neill/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next

Market setters in NFL offseason are worth paying attention to

While some NFL fans bemoan the lack of football in the offseason, I suppose it's what you are willing to pay attention to. After all, much of the loud noises in next year's NFL Free Agency market begin as whispers in the offseason. Here's what I mean:

Record-setting deals do not just happen during the feeding frenzy of opening a new free agency market. Much of the hard negotiations between teams and player agents happen after the NFL draft when teams fight to compensate players they want to retain for the foreseeable future. It is only then that true groundbreaking contracts are hammered out, resetting the market for the rest of the season and the next free agency market.

One such record setting deal involves the San Francisco 49ers and RB Christian McCaffrey, a deal that has reversed the trend of NFL teams bargain-hunting for runners:

The contract not only impacts the 49ers and McCaffrey, but will be used as a boilerplate contract for almost all new NFL contracts for running back extensions for months and perhaps even years to come.

For NFL running backs who are seeking contract extensions this year or in the future, the McCaffrey deal is just the sort of contract to re-arm them with hope for better days ahead. With the amount of money that the 49ers are investing into the running back position, there is little chance of seeing any out sort of outcome.