Cowboys QB Dak Prescott becomes highest-paid player in NFL history with new contract

Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys finally went all in this offseason by paying up for their quarterback in historic – and atypical – fashion.

Dak Prescott and the Cowboys on Sunday agreed to a record four-year, $240 million deal, making the passer the highest-paid player in NFL history. As the league's first $60 million per year player, Prescott leapfrogged the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow, Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence and Green Bay Packers' Jordan Love, who all agreed to extensions with an average annual value of $55 million.

Prescott's new deal also includes a record $231 million guaranteed, topping the Cleveland Browns' Deshaun Watson by $1 million.

“What it means is a big commitment to our next five years and our future as well," Jones told reporters in Cleveland, confirming terms of the deal. "I hope Dak is our quarterback for the rest of my time. I have a lot of confidence in him.”

The agreement comes on the day Dallas begins its season against the Cleveland Browns. Though Prescott said Thursday that he did not see the Week 1 kickoff as the deadline for getting a deal done, he said on Aug. 29 that whether a contract was reached would indicate "a lot."

The three-time Pro Bowl passer had been set to enter his final season of his four-year, $160 million contract while counting for an NFL-high $55 million cap hit.

Though Jones has widely resisted resetting the market in contract negotiations, Prescott held unique leverage thanks to his contract, which included no-trade and no-franchise-tag clauses that would clear his way to reaching free agency in 2025 if not extended.

Jones maintained that the negotiations were not a reflection of any concern or doubt regarding Prescott.

"When you look at a situation, you've also got to weigh, 'OK, what are the consequences of the other side of the coin?' " Jones told reporters on Wednesday. "And so Dak's situation right now for me, from my mirror, has more to do with our situation than it does with the merits of Dak Prescott being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys."

The contract is the second major pact the Cowboys have reached with a star player in the last two weeks. All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb agreed to terms on a four-year, $136 million deal on Aug. 26.

The next bit of business for Prescott and the Cowboys: trying to push the franchise to its first Super Bowl title – or at least NFC championship game appearance – since the 1995 season.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dak Prescott contract: Cowboys QB becomes NFL's highest-paid player