Dallas Cowboys give Dak Prescott $240 million in richest contract in NFL history | NFL

Just hours before the NFL season’s opening game against the Cleveland Browns, the Dallas Cowboys reportedly signed quarterback Dak Prescott to a four-year contract extension for a record $240 million, making him the highest-paid player in league history.

Prescott and the Cowboys spent the offseason negotiating a long-term contract and only reached an agreement 90 minutes before the start of the regular season. According to ESPN, Prescott’s new contract includes $231 million in guaranteed salary and makes him the first player to earn an average of $60 million per year.

Prescott finished second in MVP voting last season after leading the NFL with 35 touchdown passes, a career high. But the 31-year-old’s playoff record dropped to 2-5 when he threw a pick-six as Dallas collapsed in the first half and entered a 48-32 home loss to Green Bay that shocked owner Jerry Jones’ franchise from bottom to bottom.

Dallas began the offseason with open contract questions regarding their star quarterback (Prescott), wide receiver (CeeDee Lamb), pass rusher (Micah Parsons) and head coach (Mike McCarthy). After initially extending Lamb’s contract long-term, the Cowboys have now locked up their quarterback for the next four years. Next up is Parsons, who is seeking a record contract of his own. The coaching situation remains uncertain, however, as McCarthy begins his fifth year as the team’s head coach as a lame duck.

The Cowboys enter the new season with Super Bowl aspirations, and while it took most of the offseason to negotiate contracts for two of their cornerstones, signing deals for Prescott and Lamb will end speculation that Jones was willing to restructure and rebuild the roster in 2025 if the current group disappoints this year.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks praised Prescott on Wednesday as the Cowboys faced the challenge of breaking through Cleveland’s toothless defense.

“The guy is there every year, year after year. He puts up numbers and leads his team,” Cooks said of Prescott. “He can’t do it all by himself. A lot of these great quarterbacks I’ve worked with, Tom (Brady) and Drew (Brees), don’t get me wrong, they won a lot of games, a lot of Super Bowls, but they also had a lot of help around them, right?”

Prescott has won a lot of games – and now has a contract to prove it. But fans will still have questions unanswered until he wins the real games.

“You just have to love it, honestly. You have to embrace it,” Prescott said this week. “That’s the challenge. Right now, it’s about sticking together … not necessarily putting pressure on ourselves, but understanding that this team is not going to be the same after this. And that’s what it’s about. Yes, it’s now. Period.”