Dak Prescott finally agree on $300 million deal that is the first at $70 million per year with Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys gave Dak Prescott everything he wanted. He intends to pay them back in full.

Hours before the season opened, Prescott agreed to a $300 million, four-year contract with the Cowboys, making the quarterback the NFL’s highest paid player while giving him a chance to win a Super Bowl for a team he loves.

“I wanted to be a Cowboy,” he said. “I wanted to stay a Cowboy and it got done.”

Prescott is the first in league history to average $70 million per season, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced.

The runner-up in NFL MVP voting was entering the final year of a $160 million, four-year contract that was a franchise record before this deal. It includes $231 million guaranteed, the person said, $1 million more than the record fully guaranteed deal Deshaun Watson signed with the Browns two years ago.

“I had an obligation to the league and to the other quarterbacks,” he said. “It’s because I was up (due) and the next guy, I expect to beat me.”

Prescott was in his Cleveland hotel room getting ready to leave for Sunday’s game against the Browns when his agent told him the deal was complete.

He then went out and threw one touchdown pass while leading the Cowboys to an easy 33-17 win in their season opener.

There had been speculation for weeks about whether the sides could reach an agreement. Prescott was entering his final year under contract and had hoped for a definitive answer that finally came.

“In any negotiation, one side wants something and the other side wants something else,” he said. “You’ve got to meet in the middle. I’m just glad it’s done and it works for everyone.”

Prescott said he spoke with owner and general manager Jerry Jones on Saturday and was assured the Cowboys were willing to finalize a deal.

“I know that these numbers are beyond anything that I could have ever imagined,” Jones told reporters about an hour before kickoff.

Prescott has led the Cowboys to the playoffs the past three seasons and five times in his first eight years. But Dallas is looking for a postseason breakthrough that hasn’t happened since the last of the franchise’s five Super Bowl titles to cap the 1995 season.

The 31-year-old said repeatedly he wanted to stay with Dallas and be the QB to get the club past the divisional round for the first time in 29 years. Prescott now will get at least several more chances.

“It’s about me holding up my end of the deal,” he said.

“This was the thing to do for what we’re here for and that is to win a championship,” Jones said. “I gave everything I ever had or hoped to have to get a chance to be a part of the Cowboys. And it’s beyond my fondest dreams where we stand today.”

The deal with Prescott comes less than two weeks after Dallas made All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb the second-highest paid player at his position with a $136 million, four-year contract.

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