Dak Prescott contract details: How Cowboys QB became NFL's highest paid player

Dak Prescott contract details: How Cowboys QB became NFL’s highest paid player

Admin September 26, 2024

The Dallas Cowboys looked set to enter the 2024 NFL season with Dak Prescott playing on an expiring contract.

But the day before the Cowboys opened the season against the Cleveland Browns, the two parties were able to agree to a long-term extension to keep the long-time Cowboys quarterback in Dallas.

Prescott detailed that Jerry Jones came to him before practice and indicated that he wanted to get the deal over the finish line.

“‘He said, ‘Let’s surprise the world.’ (It) somewhat surprised me. But it got done. But that was really it. It was short and sweet,” Prescott explained, per USA Today’s Chris Bumbaca. “He said, ‘Let’s get this thing behind us.’ But that just gave me confidence that they were trying to get this thing done, that we were going to meet in the middle.”

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The 81-year-old Jones was pleased that a deal came together and expressed he was grateful Prescott would be remaining with the team long-term.

“There’s a lot of me that hopes Dak is our quarterback for the rest of my time – and that’s just not limited to the terms of this contract, either,” Jones said.

Jones certainly put his money where his mouth is and gave Prescott a record-breaking contract to show his commitment to the 31-year-old quarterback. Here’s what to know about Prescott’s deal and where it places him among the NFL’s highest-paid players.

Dak Prescott contract details

Prescott signed a record-breaking contract extension with the Cowboys on eve of the NFL season. The terms of the deal were as follows, per Spotrac.com:

Term: 4 years
Total value: $240 million
Average annual value (AAV): $60 million
Guaranteed money: $231 million

The deal was tacked onto the one year remaining on the four-year, $160 million contract he signed with the Cowboys ahead of 2021 free agency. That will tie Prescott to the Cowboys through the 2028 campaign, his age-35 season.

Prescott will carry an annual cap hit of at least $62 million per year as part of his extension. Dallas could look to defray those costs by restructuring his contract and adding void years – a common accounting method NFL teams use to push salary cap hits into future years – if the deal becomes too costly.

Either way, Prescott is going to be with the Cowboys long-term, as owner Jerry Jones believes the veteran quarterback represents Dallas’ best chance at winning a Super Bowl.

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Who is the highest-paid NFL player?

Prescott became the NFL’s highest-paid player in terms of AAV when he signed his new deal with the Cowboys.

AAV is the metric most commonly used to assess the relative worth of players given the varying lengths of NFL contracts. Prescott is officially the NFL’s first $60 million man, besting the previous trio of AAV leaders – Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love – by $5 million.

Prescott also received more guaranteed money than any player in NFL history as part of his signing. He beat the previous record, held by Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, by $1 million. The only difference between the two deals is that Watson’s contract was fully guaranteed while Prescott’s was only 96.25% guaranteed.

The total value of Prescott’s contract, however, ranks just eighth league-wide. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the leader in that category thanks to the 10-year, $450 million deal he signed with Kansas City in 2020. Six other players, all quarterbacks, can also make up to $255 million or more over the duration of their deals.

Full list of highest-paid NFL players

Regardless of which metric you favor using, the 10 highest-paid NFL players are all quarterbacks. Below is a look at who has the highest AAV, guarantees and total contract value for the 2024 NFL season.

AAV

Dak Prescott, Cowboys: $60 million
Joe Burrow, Bengals: $55 million
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: $55 million
Jordan Love, Packers: $55 million
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: $53.1 million
Jared Goff, Lions: $53 million
Justin Herbert, Chargers: $52.5 million
Lamar Jackson, Ravens: $52 million
Jalen Hurts, Eagles: $51 million
Kyler Murray, Cardinals: $46.1 million

Guaranteed money

Dak Prescott, Cowboys: $231 million
Deshaun Watson, Browns: $230 million
Joe Burrow, Bengals: $219.01 million
Justin Herbert, Chargers: $218.74 million
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: $200 million
Lamar Jackson, Ravens: $185 million
Jalen Hurts, Eagles: $179.4 million
Jared Goff: $170.61 million
Tua Tagovailoa: $167.17 million
Jordan Love: $160.3 million

Total contract value

Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: $450 million
Joe Burrow, Bengals: $275 million
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: $275 million
Justin Herbert, Chargers: $262.5 million
Lamar Jackson, Ravens: $260 million
Josh Allen, Bills: $258.04 million
Jalen Hurts, Eagles: $255 million
Dak Prescott, Cowboys: $240 million
Kyler Murray, Cardinals: $230.5 million
Deshaun Watson, Browns: $230 million

It should be noted that Patrick Mahomes restructured his $450 million pact to be worth a total of $208.1 million in guarantees over the 2023-26 NFL seasons. The two sides will revisit the deal after the 2026 season, which makes it likely that Mahomes’ actual AAV will eventually end up being greater than its official listing of $45 million.

And for those wondering, Justin Jefferson is the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback in AAV ($35 million per year) while Nick Bosa has the largest overall contract among non-quarterbacks ($170 million).