FRISCO, TX—Dak Prescott had previously made it abundantly clear that he wanted to play for the Dallas Cowboys for the entirety of his NFL career.
Now, just hours before the 2024 regular season kickoff against the Cleveland Browns, he has taken yet another significant step to help ensure that promise isn’t empty.
Prescott has agreed to terms on a new four-year contract extension worth upwards of $240 million, per multiple reports that include NFL.com, with a historic $231 million in guaranteed money. This will keep him committed to the team long after 2024.
This news coincides with the announcements of superdeals that were given this offseason to Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers and Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins.
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.
Yes, there’s something really unique about this football game, and we’re really fortunate to have the money that goes along with it.
I’m also grateful that I’m in a position where we can have these kinds of conversations. “But that doesn’t motivate me.”
Speaking from the first fully padded contact drill on Week 1, the three-time Pro Bowler reiterated his desire to retire in Dallas and explained why the Cowboys—more so than any other club—are his favorite team to win a Super Bowl with.
“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 have multiple opportunities to accomplish that.
By 2022, the Walter Payton Man of the Year, only the fourth person in Dallas history to win the honor after Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, and Jason Witten, Prescott was scheduled to begin yet another contract year in September.
Given that he has been the Cowboys’ franchise tag holder twice before, this will not be a new experience for him.
those essentially being contract years; his most recent iteration, which isn’t tag-related, is expected to surpass the current salary ceiling in 2024 by more than $59 million.
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 two sides worked out a revised deal this past spring to give some relief in that situation, but this extension probably cements tens of millions of dollars of additional savings toward the cap for more wiggle room.
With this move, the Cowboys not only ensure they’ll avoid quarterback purgatory — e.g., Clint Stoerner, Stephen McGee, Quincy Carter, etc.
However, it should also free up tens of millions of dollars in salary cap space for 2024, which can be fully rolled over into the 2025 season—that is, whatever portion of it stays unspent until then.
Heading into his ninth season in the league, Prescott—a former fourth-round compensatory pick in 2016—has risen to the status of one of the best in the business; his 2023 season earned him not only a third Pro Bowl nod and his first honor as an All-Pro, but also second-place vote for NFL MVP, behind only Lamar Jackson.
Finishing the 2023 season with the third-highest passing yards total of his record-setting career (4,516), Prescott finished the season with his second-highest overall
the Cowboys’ second pick in the fourth round (135th overall) of the 2016 draft, Prescott entered training camp as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart.
He was the default starter after both Tony Romo and Kellen Moore suffered injuries during camp, and on September 18, 2016, he scored his first NFL touchdown with a 6-yard run in a 27-23 victory against Washington.
Prescott also threw his lowest number of interceptions (9) in a full season since 2018 — completing a 180-degree turn in that arena.
Prescott won the Bob Lilly Award for the team for the fifth year in a row.
The award is granted for sportsmanship, devotion, leadership, and accomplishment and is chosen by Cowboys supporters.
With the number of times this honor has been given out since it began in 1985, Prescott currently trails only Jason Witten in franchise history.
Despite having now worked under two different head coaches, three different play callers, and four different quarterback coaches, he has thrown for 29,459 yards and 202 touchdowns to 74 interceptions in his Dallas career. He also owns a 73-41 regular season record.
Last season, he once again led the Cowboys’ offense to become the team with the highest production.
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 in the offseason that he and the team think Prescott “is part of the solution,” and general manager and owner Jerry Jones added that Prescott is “right up there with his biggest fan” while speaking from training camp. Once again, they have all demonstrated their sincerity, and all of the players in the locker room are jubilant about Prescott’s job security.
He remarked of the Dallas community’s togetherness, “Yeah, it’s everything,” Playing this physically demanding team game with people you love and invest in, and vice versa, is an amazing experience. It involves being present each day. Better would be more accurate than easier, I think. You’re giddy.
“You want to enter this locker room, you want to motivate the men to improve, you want to get to know them, and you want to provide them with all the support you can both on and off the field.
Together, you transform into actual brothers and family rather than just coworkers or employees.
And in these past nine years, I’ve developed some incredible relationships with teammates. Yes, I am blessed.
“I’m blessed with so many of those guys in there.”
It goes without saying that, should the Cowboys qualify for the postseason like they have the last three years, Prescott is expected to perform similarly. However, he has no intention of holding back from that expectation.
And he will have multiple more opportunities to assault it while wearing a Cowboys uniform throughout his NFL career.