CLEVELAND — It was a special day for Dak Prescott from start to finish. Season openers are always memorable, but establishing himself as the league’s highest-paid player and then winning 33-17 on the road is a moment of sunshine you won’t forget.
While Prescott stressed that negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys over a contract extension approaching Sunday were not distracting him from his preparations for his team’s first kickoff, it felt as though a thick cloud hanging over the team’s future had quickly dissipated with the news of the four-year, $240 million contract extension that morning.
Prescott hopes to feel it when the day is over and the contract is signed.
“I hope we’re done talking about that and my bags today,” Prescott said with a laugh. “And we can just move on and focus on this team and the success that we’re planning and what we’re working toward.”
Prescott’s rhetoric on Thursday was one of sincerity and honesty as he explained that he would leave the bulk of the negotiations in the days leading up to the game to his agent, Todd France, and the Cowboys.
After a brief conversation with Jerry Jones at practice on Saturday, during which Jones said we should “surprise the world and put this thing behind us,” Prescott said he had only one conversation with France before calling him via FaceTime on Sunday morning to share the good news of an agreement.
The call came while he was in his hotel room being treated by a specialist, along with teammate and close friend Ezekiel Elliott – who was the first to hug the league’s new richest player. Prescott then called his marketing team, his girlfriend and his father to deliver the good news before turning his attention back to the upcoming game.
“If you had asked me that yesterday, I would have said I was going into the game without (an agreement),” he said. “And that didn’t mean that contract negotiations would end, but that I just wanted to focus on what I can control.”
“It was good to end these questions.”
One of the first calls Prescott received in response came from Jerry Jones himself, who shared his affection and his goals for the coming years.
“He called me afterward and congratulated me, of course,” Prescott said. “I thanked him and he said, ‘I want you to be the quarterback here.'”
“He meant the player, of course, but he also meant the person and that meant a lot to me. I just want to keep my part of the bargain and deliver for him.”
His goal is to reach the ultimate pinnacle of the sport and win a Super Bowl. It has seemed out of reach in his eight seasons, but Prescott remains convinced he can win a ring.
On Thursday, before the deal was finalized, Prescott said he wanted to be the “QB that wins” in Dallas. Now that he’s in Dallas for the foreseeable future, he’s giving himself a chance to capitalize — this time, of course, only theoretically.
“That’s my only motivation, to keep my end of the bargain and deliver,” he said. “That’s what matters most to me, not the money. It’s about keeping my end of the bargain and winning, and that’s what I want to do here.”
