Now the NFL's highest-paid QB, pressure is on Dak Prescott to bring Cowboys playoff success

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

With the numbers of the record-breaking extension validating that notion, the football implications now take center stage.

Prescott will take a huge bite out of the team’s salary cap through the 2028 season, which would be close to the end of his prime at 35 years old. His primary weapon during that time will be CeeDee Lamb, who came to terms with the Cowboys on his own monster extension two weeks ago. Prescott and Lamb, under the terms of their recent extensions, will account for $94 million AAV per season.

The yearly cap hits can be reconfigured through restructures but no matter how it’s spun, Prescott and Lamb will make up a massive chunk of the Cowboys’ salary cap. Prescott will absorb the brunt of the pressure that comes with it because he’s the quarterback.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars and Green Bay Packers paid Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love, respectively, top dollar this offseason, there was a decent amount of projection involved. Neither quarterback is over 25 and the teams expect that their best years are ahead.

Prescott is 31 and squarely in his prime. Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones said less than two weeks ago, “You could easily say, ‘If you haven’t seen it by now, you haven’t seen it,’ ” as it pertains to what else Prescott needs to show to earn the extension he just received.

That contrast isn’t a slight at Prescott, who is widely considered a top-10 NFL quarterback and was the MVP runner-up in 2023 after leading the league in touchdown passes. Prescott has the talent to win a Super Bowl. Within 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, on talent alone, is on the same level, if not better, than each player in that group.

But Prescott will now be asked to do even more of the heavy lifting. The Cowboys have not only invested heavily in him, but they’ve invested around him. Lamb is paid at the top of the market. Left guard Tyler Smith is expected to be at the top of the list of his position in the coming years, too. Left tackle Tyler Guyton was this year’s first-round pick. Jake Ferguson could be up for a new deal soon.

The Cowboys have received their share of criticism — much of it fair — for how they’ve managed the running back position this offseason. If the Cowboys make it the new norm to ignore a devalued position, Prescott will be looked upon to elevate the offense with his arm. Lamb is a supreme talent but Prescott will be expected to elevate most of the players around him.

With great cap hit comes great responsibility.

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The elephant in the room — and the primary reason this deal took much longer than needed to get done — is Prescott’s performances in January. It can be argued wins and losses is a quarterback stat, but there’s no debate that the quarterback is heavily involved in the outcome. Prescott has had solid playoff outings, namely his postseason debut in 2017 against the Green Bay Packers and retiring Tom Brady in Tampa Bay in 2023. It took a borderline miracle for the Cowboys to lose one of those games and they handedly won the other.

Prescott is coming off a postseason in which he contributed heavily to arguably the worst postseason loss in franchise history. The Cowboys’ defense was atrocious, but Prescott didn’t help with a couple of first-half interceptions, including a pick-six. Prescott has worn a lot of the criticism for that performance and other big-game failures in recent years, but it’s going to be amped up even further now.

In extending Prescott, the Cowboys sent a wider message about the state of the franchise for at least the next five years. Before the extension, there was at least a conversation to be had after the season about the direction of the team. Would the Cowboys start from scratch, from the head coach, quarterback and beyond? Would a rebuild be on the horizon? Jones has said that he doesn’t have time to have a bad time, so a rebuild was a long shot to begin with, but the reality of the circumstances at least left it on the table.

With Prescott secured, none of that is a conversation anymore. Prescott is too good for a team rebuilding. The pressure is now on Prescott to show that he’s good enough lead a team to win it all.

(Photo: Ryan Kang / Getty Images)