By Dianna Russini, Saad Yousuf 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 multi-year contract extension hours before Dallas opens its season against the Cleveland Browns, making the 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 Dallas 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 was the runner-up 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 his future. Prescott’s contract was set to expire after the 2024 season along with the Cowboys not able 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. The three-time Pro Bowler has spent his entire career with the Cowboys after Dallas selected him with a fourth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He went on to start 16 games (out of 16) for the Cowboys leading them to a 13-3 record and earning offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
He’s been firmly entrenched as Dallas’ starter, outside of his absences during the 2020 and 2022 seasons due to injuries.
How Dak got the massive deal
Most assumed that a Prescott extension would come down at the outset of the offseason. Instead, the Cowboys waited the entire spring and summer and finally got a deal done a few hours before their opener against the Browns. The deal, coming in at $60 million AAV, is what most expected it would be. Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love recently signed deals this offseason at $55 million AAC, but Joe Burrow was already at that number with his deal prior to 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
Required reading
(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
