NFL
Dak Prescott signed a brand new contract with the Dallas Cowboys just hours before their season opening game in Cleveland.
The star quarterback and the Cowboys agreed to a four-year, $240 million contract, making it the primary in NFL history to average $60 million per season, an individual conversant in the deal told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity since the deal has not yet been announced.
The runner-up in NFL MVP voting was entering the ultimate 12 months of a four-year, $160 million contract that was a franchise record before this deal. It includes $231 million guaranteed, the person said, $1 million greater than the record-setting contract Deshaun Watson signed with the Browns two years ago.
Prescott has led the Cowboys to the playoffs the last three seasons and five times in his first eight years, but Dallas is hoping for a postseason breakthrough the likes of which hasn't happened for the reason that last of the franchise's five Super Bowl titles to shut out the 1995 season.
The 31-year-old has repeatedly said he wants to stick with Dallas and be the quarterback who takes the club out of the divisional round for the primary time in 29 years. Prescott now gets that likelihood.
The Prescott deal comes lower than two weeks after Dallas made All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb the second-highest-paid player at his position with a four-year, $136 million contract.
Lamb missed all of coaching camp while waiting for a brand new contract as he entered the ultimate 12 months of his five-year deal as a rookie.
Prescott was chosen within the fourth round out of Mississippi State in 2016, when Tony Romo was entering his tenth full season as a starter.
Romo injured his back in a preseason game, which forced Prescott to begin the primary week of his rookie season after backup Kellen Moore was also injured before the opening game.
After the loss to the New York Giants, Prescott led an 11-game winning streak that set a franchise record for a single season.
Prescott beat teammate Ezekiel Elliott for the 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award and led the Cowboys to the highest of the NFC before losing their playoff debut to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
The first playoff win with Prescott got here two years later against Seattle, before a divisional loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The first of three consecutive 12-win playoff seasons in 2021 ended with a wildcard loss at home to San Francisco.
A 12 months later, Prescott played the most effective games of his profession in a wild-card win at Tampa Bay, Tom Brady's final game, before one other loss to the 49ers, this time in San Francisco.
Dallas' hopes of a deep playoff run were at their highest under Prescott last season, when the Cowboys made a late surge to No. 2 within the NFC and were in a position to advance past the divisional round at home.
Dallas didn't even get to play that game, as Prescott's pick-6 was a part of the team's first-half collapse that resulted in a surprising 48-32 wild-card loss to Jordan Love and the Packers.
Arguably probably the most disappointing loss in Jerry Jones' 34 years of ownership, it marred a terrific regular season for Prescott, who led the NFL with a career-high 35 touchdown passes against nine interceptions and threw for 4,516 yards.
Prescott was already climbing the Cowboys' profession quarterback charts and now has a likelihood to overtake Romo and two Pro Football Hall of Fame members and multiple Super Bowl winners, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach.
All three of his predecessors still rank ahead of Prescott in profession wins, although Prescott has five fewer victories than Romo, who’s third with 78. Prescott is second in touchdowns, 45 behind Romo, and third in yards, behind Romo and Aikman.
Prescott is the club's career-best with a 67% completion percentage. He has 29,459 yards and 202 touchdowns.
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