Dak Prescott, Cowboys agree to terms on massive contract extension

Dak Prescott, Cowboys agree to terms on massive contract extension

 

Dak Prescott had previously made it abundantly evident that he intended to play for the Dallas Cowboys for the duration of his NFL career. Now, just hours before the regular season 2024 opener against the Cleveland Browns gets underway, he has taken yet another significant step to help make sure that promise isn’t hollow. According to numerous reports, including NFL.com, Prescott has reached an agreement to sign a new four-year contract extension worth up to $240 million, with a record $231 million in guaranteed money. This, coupled with the summertime megadeals given to Jordan Love by the Green Bay Packers and Tua Tagovailoa by the Miami Dolphins, will guarantee him a spot as the team’s starting quarterback well into 2024.

He was quite clear earlier this year that, although money is an important component of the business side of the game, it is not what motivates him to succeed as a person, a father, or a player. On Thursday, he declared, “I’ve never played the game for that.” “I’ve engaged in a game out of pure affection for the boys in that changing area. Sure, this game has always given me something positive that not many other things in life manage to do. That’s the kind of peace it is. simply interacting with those you have a brotherhood with outside of the lines. something that’s just special about this game of football and we’re just blessed that that money comes with it, and I’m in the position that I’m in that we can be having these conversations.

“But that doesn’t motivate me.”

Speaking from the first fully padded contact practice Week 1, the three-time Pro Bowler re-emphasized his want of retiring in Dallas and, more specifically, why the thought of winning a Super Bowl with the Cowboys— above any other team — drives him.

“That’s what motivates me on being here, just to be the quarterback that does it, that wins it,” he said. “I don’t think that winning it any other place would be the same as winning it here.”

He’ll now get several more chances at achieving that goal.

The 2022 Walter Payton Man of the Year, only the fourth to ever win the award in Dallas alongside Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Jason Witten, Prescott was set to enter yet another contract year beginning this September, something he is no stranger to when considering he’s been the recipient of the Cowboys’ franchise tag on two previous occasions — those amounting to basically contract years — his latest variation, non-tag related, set to hit the current salary cap for more than $59 million in 2024.

Prescott was the first quarterback to ever receive a tag in Cowboys history in 2020. His second tag in 2021 barely lasted a single day before he inked a four-year contract extension in March 2021 that guaranteed $126 million and had a maximum value of $160 million. The Cowboys needed the extra relief of extending Prescott because, despite the shocking news of the $255.4 million salary cap set for 2024 (more than $30 million higher than the previous season and nearly $13 million more than expected), they were still over the cap at the time.
“I think a day can truly transform your life,” expressed All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who recently signed a new contract deal in late August. “Clearly, it has done that for me, and I know that Dak is extremely aware with this and how Jerry is functioning because this is his second time at the table. He cannot win a game by himself, but I am confident that they will complete the task.” The parties reached a revised agreement this past spring to provide some relief at that particular time, but this extension probably solidifies tens of millions of dollars’ worth of more savings toward the cap in order to provide more leeway.

With this move, the Cowboys not only guarantee they’ll avoid quarterback purgatory — e.g., Clint Stoerner, Stephen McGee, Quincy Carter, etc. — but it should also free up tens of millions of dollars in salary cap space for 2024 that can be fully rolled into the 2025 calendar season, or rather whatever portion of it remains unspent to that point.

As he approaches his ninth season in the league, Prescott—a former fourth-round compensatory pick in 2016—has become one of the best in the business. His 2023 campaign saw him place second in the NFL MVP voting behind only Lamar Jackson, while also earning him a third Pro Bowl nod and his first honor as an All-Pro. Prescott completed a 180-degree turn in that area by finishing the 2023 season with his lowest number of interceptions (9) in a full season since 2018 after throwing a career-worst 15 interceptions the previous year. He also finished with the second-highest number of touchdowns (36) and the third-highest passing yards total of his record-setting career (4,516).

Over the course of his career in Dallas, he’s thrown for a total of 29,459 yards and 202 touchdowns to 74 interceptions, and owns a regular season record of 73-41 despite having now played under two different head coaches, three different play callers and four different quarterbacks’ coaches; and once again led the Cowboys’ offense to become the No. 1 unit in production last season.

Prescott’s ability to adjust swiftly and keep winning—as well as his ability to overcome crippling personal misfortune, such as a devastating loss or losses in his family and a season-ending shattered leg in 2020—have been the one constant. When Margaret Jane (“Baby MJ”) was born in 2024, he became a father for the first time, which, according to him, really focused him like never before. McCarthy, the coach who oversaw the offenses for both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, is leading Prescott once more in the right direction. The Cowboys’ head coach said earlier this offseason that he and the team think Prescott “is part of the solution,” and general manager and owner Jerry Jones, speaking from training camp, noted he’s right up there with his biggest fans.

 

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