CLEVELAND — There was never any doubt about what Dak Prescott’s next contract would look like. The Dallas Cowboys’ franchise quarterback was certain to become the highest-paid player in NFL history next spring, either by the Cowboys or another team as a free agent.

The figures for the record-breaking contract extension confirm this assumption, and now the impact on football is coming into focus.

Prescott will be a large part of the team’s salary cap through the 2028 season, just before the end of his prime at age 35. His main weapon during that time will be CeeDee Lamb, who agreed to his own monster extension with the Cowboys two weeks ago. Prescott and Lamb will make a combined $94 million AAV under the terms of their recent extensions. per season.

Annual salary caps can be re-set through restructuring, but no matter what happens, Prescott and Lamb will make up a large portion of the Cowboys’ salary cap. Prescott will bear the brunt of the pressure that comes with that because he’s the quarterback.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars and Green Bay Packers paid Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love top salaries this offseason, respectively, there was a certain amount of prediction involved. Neither quarterback is over 25, and the teams believe their best years are still ahead of them.

Prescott is 31 and at his best. Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones said less than two weeks ago, “It would be easy to say, ‘If you haven’t seen it by now, you haven’t seen it yet,'” when it comes to what else Prescott needs to show to earn the contract extension he just received.

That contrast is no small feat with Prescott, who is widely considered one of the top 10 NFL quarterbacks and finished second in the 2023 MVP voting after leading the league in touchdown passes. Prescott has the talent to win a Super Bowl. In the last decade, Nick Foles, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts have all played in a Super Bowl, with Foles winning a ring for the Philadelphia Eagles. Prescott, talent-wise, is on the same level as, if not better than, any other player in that group.

But Prescott now has to do even more hard work. The Cowboys have not only invested a lot in him, but also in those around him. Lamb deserves the best on the market. Left guard Tyler Smith will also be at the top of his position’s list in the coming years. Left tackle Tyler Guyton was drafted in the first round this year. Jake Ferguson could soon get a new contract.

The Cowboys have taken their share of criticism — and mostly rightly so — for their handling of the running back position this offseason. If the Cowboys make ignoring a devalued position the new norm, Prescott will be expected to add value to the offense with his arm. Lamb is a transcendent talent, but Prescott will be expected to add value to most of the players around him.

With a high salary limit comes great responsibility.

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The elephant in the room – and the main reason this deal took much longer than it needed to – is Prescott’s performance in January. One could argue that wins and losses are a quarterback stat, but there’s no question that the quarterback has a big stake in the outcome. Prescott has put together solid playoff performances, most notably his 2017 postseason debut against the Green Bay Packers and Tom Brady’s 2023 Tampa Bay assignment. It was nothing short of a miracle that the Cowboys lost one of those games and won the other handily.

Prescott is coming off a postseason in which he was a major contributor to arguably the worst postseason loss in franchise history. The Cowboys’ defense was atrocious, but Prescott didn’t help matters with a couple of first-half interceptions, including a pick-six. Prescott has taken a lot of criticism for that performance and other misses in important games over the past few years, but now the criticism is only getting amplified.

By extending Prescott’s contract, the Cowboys sent a broader message about the state of the franchise for at least the next five years. Before the contract extension, there was at least some postseason conversation about the direction of the team. Would the Cowboys start from scratch, with the head coach, quarterback and beyond? Would a rebuild be in the cards? Jones has said he has no time for bad times, so a rebuild was unlikely from the start, but the reality of the circumstances at least left it on the table.

Now that Prescott is under contract, that’s over. Prescott is too good for a rebuild team. Now Prescott is under pressure to show he’s good enough to lead a team to victory.

(Photo: Ryan Kang/Getty Images)