Former NFL QB highlights $90,000,000 headache new Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer has to deal with

Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky highlighted a new headache for the newly appointed Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer. He has reportedly signed a four-year contract with the team, which announced his hiring on Friday.

However, for Schottenheimer, the tension has already started. One of the issues is the salary cap. Dan Orlovsky shared the contract details of the key players of the Cowboys, whose contracts are worth more than half of the team's salary cap for the 2025 season.

The Cowboys need their key players to be part of the team, but due to salary cap limitations, there could be hurdles in how the team completes its roster. Orlovsky shared the contract amounts of the players, sharing his insights in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, highlighting quarterback Dak Prescott's cap hit of $90 million compared to other QBs:

"2025 cap hit Dak Prescott ($90.0M), Jalen Hurts ($21.8M), Jayden Daniels ($8.6M). How is Dallas supposed to compete next year?"

Tensions are obvious, and fans have their eyes on knowing how the team, under Brian Schottenheimer, will deal with the situation. Notably, Schottenheimer replaced Mike McCarthy as the head coach of the team for the next season.

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Cowboys trying to renegotiate Dak Prescott's contract to balance their salary cap

While the salary cap is a big challenge for new coach Brian Schottenheimer, the team has already started preparing to balance the numbers. In an interview with 105.3 The Fan on Jan. 5, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones revealed the team's plan to renegotiate quarterback Dak Prescott's contract.

Speaking about reworking Prescott's contract, Jones said (via Marca):

"We reworked (Dak Prescott's contract) every step of the way of his $40 million contract and we'll be reworking it again throughout on his $60 million contract. In terms of pushing the pay day out."

"A little bit of that's our problem right now, is we're not only paying for his current $60 million, we're still paying for part of the $40 million contract that we pushed out," he added.

Notably, in September 2024, Dak Prescott signed a whopping $240 million contract with Dallas. His cap hit for the 2025 season is $89,896,666, according to Spotrac, which includes $47,750,000 in base P5 salary, $28,891,666 in signing proration, and $13,255,000 in restructure proration for the 2025 season.