Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott have reached a four-year deal with $ 160 million, including a $ 126 million guarantee, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The deal, which is technical for six years but canceled at four to help Dallas with the salary cap, can be worth up to $ 164 million and has a $ 66 million signing bonus, the largest in history. The first three years of the transaction averaged $ 42 million for Prescott.
The deadline for franchise player designation teams is Tuesday, March 9, and the Cowboys, who did not disclose the details of the deal when they announced it next Wednesday, intend to label Prescott, but only as a formality before the deal is finalized.
The process of reaching a long-term agreement with Prescott took three years, during which millions of dollars were offered and hours of negotiations. All the while, the Cowboys have indicated that they want Prescott to be their franchise defender for the present and the future, and the defender has said he wants to stay on the team.
The negotiation took longer than usual.
Prescott, who turns 28 in July, is coming to the end of his 2020 season with a fractured and dislocated right ankle in Week 5, in a game against the New York Giants, but is expected to be fully recovered by the start. training camps in 2021.
The road to a deal between Prescott and Cowboys has been complicated by extensions signed by defenders drafted in 2016, such as Jared Goff and Carson Wentz in 2019, the final year of the collective agreement and a reluctance on both sides to flex. relationship with the duration of the transaction. Dallas wanted a commitment for five or more years, and the defender wanted one for four.
Now that the transaction is complete, the focus shifts to the Cowboys list and heads to Prescott to make Dallas a Super Bowl competitor. The Cowboys have not reached the playoffs in three of the last four seasons.
Prescott’s absence in 2020 underscored his importance in the team’s success. Before being injured, the defender threw for 1,856 meters with nine touchdowns and four interceptions in five games. The Cowboys fought a few weeks without their defender, scoring just one touchdown in three games, after scoring at least 31 points in four of the first five games.
In five seasons, Prescott has seven games of 400 yards or more, a Cowboys record and 24 ground touchdowns, the highest total for a quarterback in franchise history. He is second after Tony Romo, with 15 games, at least 300 meters in passing and has proven his ability to respond in times of pressure with 15 offenses to win.
In his career, Prescott, a fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft, is 42-27, with 17,364 yards and 106 touchdowns on 40 interceptions.
With the contract guaranteed, expectations will be even higher for Prescott to win the Super Bowl for an organization that won its last championship 25 years ago.
ESPN’s Todd Archer contributed to this report.