Dak Prescott and the Cowboys agree to a $240 million deal, the first at $60 million per year

Dak Prescott signed a 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 first in NFL history to average $60 million per season, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been announced.

The runner-up in NFL MVP voting was entering the final year 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 more than the record-setting contract Deshaun Watson signed with the Browns two years ago.

“I know these numbers exceed anything I could have ever imagined,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones told reporters about an hour before kickoff against Cleveland.

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 since the last of the franchise's five Super Bowl titles to close out the 1995 season.

The 31-year-old has repeatedly said he wants to stay with Dallas and be the quarterback who takes the club out of the divisional round for the first time in 29 years. Prescott now gets that chance.

“This is what we needed to do to accomplish what we're here to do, which is win a championship,” Jones said. “I gave everything I ever had or hoped to have for the chance to be a part of the Cowboys. And where we are today is beyond my wildest dreams.”

The Prescott deal comes less 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 training camp while waiting for a new contract as he entered the final year of his five-year deal as a rookie.

Prescott was selected in the fourth round out of Mississippi State in 2016, when Tony Romo was entering his 10th full season as a starter.

Romo injured his back in a preseason game, which forced Prescott to start the first 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 top of the NFC before losing their playoff debut to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

The first playoff win with Prescott came 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 year later, Prescott played one of the best games of his career in a wild-card win at Tampa Bay, Tom Brady's final game, before another 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 in the NFC and were able to advance past the divisional round at home.

Dallas didn't even get to play that game, as Prescott's pick-6 was part of the team's first-half collapse that resulted in a stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to Jordan Love and the Packers.

Arguably the most disappointing loss in the 34 years since Jones bought the team, it marred a great 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' career quarterback charts and now has a chance 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 career wins, although Prescott has five fewer victories than Romo, who is 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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