NFL’s highest paid player Dak Prescott says Cowboys teammates expect Rolex watches

Whatever you think of Dak Prescott as the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback, you best prepare yourself that this is the way it’s going to be for the next four years.

There are few players whose existence causes debate, controversy and divisiveness in sports more than Dak Prescott. Depending on your preference, he’s good, great, terrible, trash, terrible trash, lucky, or incredibly lucky. He also provides endless content, too.

What no one can debate is that he’s really, really, super, duper rich.

The Cowboys, as they love to do, waited until the final seconds before the start of the 2024 season in Cleveland to sign their franchise quarterback a franchise-altering contract; four years and $231 million guaranteed. The deal averages $60 million a season.

“I understand this business. This game is a business,” Prescott said after the Cowboys’ 33-17 win in Cleveland. “I had an obligation to the league and to the other quarterbacks. Of the guys in the locker room, they’re expecting Rolex watches. Everybody is giving me their wrist size.

“They mention ‘the highest paid,’ and it’s because I’m a quarterback. To that, it’s because I was up. The next guy will expect to beat me. It’s way this league is going.”

This deal makes him one of the highest paid pro athletes in North American sports; LIV golfers aren’t included on this list.

This was the mistake they had no choice but to make. The Cowboys were never going to take the risk of potentially allowing Prescott, who has a 74-41 career record as their starting quarterback, to become an unrestricted free agent and leave after the season for nothing in return.

They were not deliberately going to go back to the days of Chad Hutchinson, Vinny Testaverde, Ryan Leaf, Quincy Carter and a host of other quarterbacks who didn’t work out after Troy Aikman retired.

They’re not turning the most valuable franchise in sports over to Cooper Rush. And that’s a giant “Hell N-O” to Trey Lance.

“I could not think of a more deserving person to get that contract,” Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said.

This conclusion was 199.9 percent inevitable. They like Dak too much. Disregard his career 2-5 playoff record, if you can (you can’t); they are convinced he can win a Super Bowl.

A few hours after he agreed to the deal, on Dak’s first pass attempt since becoming the highest paid player in NFL history, he was hit hard enough by a Brown defensive lineman to knock at least a few million dollars from his pocket. Maybe he was able to use that extra cash to soften the blow.

“I needed that,” Prescott said. He had not been hit in a game since the playoff loss to the Packers in January.

As ugly as his first drive of the season was, both he and his teammates acquitted themselves later in the first quarter with a drive that showed No. 4 at his finest. He found wide receiver CeeDee Lamb with a perfect pass down the right sidelines for 34 yards.

Three plays later, under pressure Prescott found receiver Brandin Cooks open in the end zone for his first touchdown pass of the season.

In Prescott’s first eight NFL seasons, we have seen all of this before. He was a finalist for the NFL’s MVP award last season not for any reason other than he’s good. The only thing the man hasn’t done is win the playoffs, and those games don’t start until January.

“It’s about holding up my end of the deal, and that’s winning,” he said. “And I want to do it here.”

Whatever you think of Dak, 30, as the starting quarterback of the Cowboys get even more used to it. You can debate whether he’s worth the contract, and if he’s “any good.”

What everyone will agree on is that Dak Prescott is now really, really, super, duper rich, and he will be the Cowboys’ starting quarterback for a long, long time.

Enjoy the debate.