By Dianna Russini, Saad Yousuf, Jon Machota and Amos Morale III
Dak Prescott will be in a Dallas Cowboys uniform beyond the 2024 NFL season.
The Cowboys and their starting quarterback agreed to terms on a multiyear contract extension hours before Dallas opens its season against the Cleveland Browns, making the three-time Pro Bowler the highest-paid player in league history. The extension is for four years and worth up to $240 million, per a league source.
Prescott, 31, is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career last year spending much of the season as a league MVP candidate. He started every regular season game leading the Cowboys to a 12-5 record while compiling a career-high 69.5 completion percentage for 4,516 yards, 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Prescott earned second-team All-Pro honors and finished second in MVP voting.
But Dallas’ 2023 season came to a disappointing end in the playoffs with a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round, leading to amplified questions about Prescott’s future. His contract was set to expire after the 2024 season, along with the Cowboys being unable to use the franchise tag on the passer.
On Aug. 15, Prescott told reporters he felt confident a deal would get done.
“Good conversations are going on, I will say that,” he said. “A lot of good things are going on there. A lot of confidence. I have confidence in my guys and these guys getting something done.”
Prescott inked a four-year, $160 million extension in 2021. He has spent his entire career in Dallas after the Cowboys selected him with a fourth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He went on to start 16 games (out of 16) for Dallas, leading it to a 13-3 record and earning offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
He’s been firmly entrenched as the Cowboys’ starter, outside of his absences during the 2020 and 2022 seasons due to injuries.
How Dak got the massive deal
Most assumed a Prescott extension would come down at the outset of the offseason. Instead, Dallas waited the entire spring and summer and finally got a deal done a few hours before its opener against the Browns. The deal, coming in at $60 million average annual value, is what most expected it would be.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Packers quarterback Jordan Love recently signed deals this offseason at $55 million AAV, but Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was already at that number with his deal before this offseason, so that set the floor for Prescott.
The Cowboys’ quarterback had all of the leverage — a no-trade clause, no franchise tag clause, a weak quarterback free agency class in 2025 and a relatively weak quarterback draft class in 2025. He was able to use it to get the deal that felt inevitable for a while. — Saad Yousuf, Cowboys writer
Coaching changes coming?
Dallas owner Jerry Jones said several times this offseason he was “all in” on the 2024 season. After not doing much in free agency, most scratched their head. So, if he wasn’t “all in” on improving the roster, he seemed to be suggesting that he was “all in” if things don’t go well, and he would make major changes.
Those changes could be at the two most important spots — quarterback and coach. But there are no changes at quarterback regardless of what happens this season with Prescott’s deal done. So, in the end, Jones made CeeDee Lamb the second-highest-paid non-quarterback and Prescott the highest-paid player in league history.
The biggest question that can be asked with both deals is why didn’t these get done sooner. Maybe a new Mike McCarthy contract is next. — Jon Machota, Cowboys writer
Required reading
(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)