Cowboys QB Prescott set to be NFL’s highest-paid player

The Dallas Cowboys have agreed a contract extension with quarterback Dak Prescott which will make him the highest-paid player in NFL history.

Prescott, 31, has agreed to a four-year contract extension reportedly worth $240m, external (£183m), with $231m (£176m) of that total coming in guaranteed money and a signing bonus of $80m (£61m).

At $60m (£46m) a season, that will make Prescott the highest-paid player in NFL history, eclipsing the $55m (£42m) average annual salary on new deals signed by Joe Burrow, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence.

The guaranteed sum of $231m is also a record, at just $1m (£760,000) more than the Cleveland Browns handed Deshaun Watson in 2022.

News of the deal, which will run until the end of the 2028 season, emerged hours before Dallas opened their season with a 33-17 win over the Browns on Sunday.

“I hope after today we’re done talking about it and my pockets,” Prescott said after throwing for 179 yards and a touchdown in the win.

“And could just move forward and focus on this team and the success that we plan to have and what we’re working toward.”

Three-time Pro Bowl selection Prescott is coming off a well-timed career year, as he led the league with 36 touchdown passes and 410 completions and finished second in the league’s Most Valuable Player voting.

Dallas owner Jerry Jones had faced questions all summer over why both Prescott and star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had not been given new contracts.

Lamb has agreed a four-year, $136m (£104m) contract after a protracted stand-off with the Cowboys, and now his quarterback’s future in Dallas has also been secured.

Prescott has been a prolific passer during his time with the Cowboys, and has led them to the play-offs in three successive years – with three consecutive 12-win regular seasons.

Winning in the play-offs has been the problem though, with Prescott successful in just two of his seven post-season games and having failed to progress beyond the divisional round.

With a Super Bowl drought closing in on 30 years, ‘America’s Team’ badly need to taste some success again, and now they are banking on Prescott being the man to lead them to glory.