How bout them Cowboys! Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to terms on a four-year, $240 million contract extension just a few hours before Sunday’s regular-season opener against the Cleveland Browns, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Prescott’s deal includes $231 million guaranteed and an $80 million signing bonus, according Rapoport and Pelissero.
The Cowboys have since confirmed Prescott’s extension.
At $60 million per year in new money, Prescott will be the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history, surpassing the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Jordan Love with the Green Bay Packers, each of whom recently inked extensions worth $55 million in average annual value.
Prescott’s new deal keeps him in Dallas, donning the star on the side of his helmet, through the 2028 season, the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback’s age-35 campaign. This is Prescott’s second extension with the Cowboys since being taken in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State University. He signed a four-year, $160 million deal in 2021.
The significant raise and vote of confidence in Prescott is well deserved. The 31-year-old signal-caller is coming off his best season in the pros, in which he led the league with 410 completions and 36 touchdowns and finished second in MVP voting, right behind Lamar Jackson.
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Prescott’s noticeable improvement from the 2022 season, when he played just 12 games due to a broken finger, but still managed to lead the NFL with 15 interceptions, proved that the QB was getting better like fine wine with age, a leader to still build around rather than one to put out to pasture.
By signing Prescott before he was scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency in 2025, Dallas avoided their franchise quarterback reaching the market with never-before-seen leverage. In addition to his no-trade clause, Prescott benefitted in negotiations from having already been franchise-tagged twice. If Dallas was to tag him an unprecedented third time, they would have owed Prescott an arm and a leg, upwards of $80 million, a gigantic number even for the cash-rich Cowboys, who are worth over $10 billion.
Sunday’s welcomed news ends a rocky offseason of contention for owner and general manager Jerry Jones and the ‘Boys, who from the start of training camp faced relentless questions about the future of his three best players, Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons in Big D. Jones was quite arrogant but confident all summer about the state of his marque stars at The Star, telling reporters and anyone who would listen, he was embracing the “ambiguity” of Dallas’ good problem. The Cowboys owner said late last month that the team did not need to get Dak’s deal done before the start of the 2024 season, but Sunday’s soft deadline spurred action.
With Prescott and Lamb now under contract, each near record levels, Dallas can now focus and turn its attention to a make-it-or-break-it 2024 season and to re-signing the two-time All-Pro and perennial Defensive Player of Year candidate Parsons, who is entering his fourth season with the Cowboys. The star linebacker is under contract through the 2025 season after Dallas picked up his fifth-year option earlier this year, giving the Cowboys brass room to breathe before they shell out more cash on big-time extensions.
For now, the Cowboys can stick out their chest and say with confidence they are finally and truly “all in” on Prescott, their quarterback of the present and future.
