Hours before they open the NFL season against the Cleveland Browns, the Dallas Cowboys have reportedly signed quarterback Dak Prescott to a record $240 million, four-year contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in league history.

Prescott and the Cowboys spent the offseason in negotiations over a long-term contract, only reaching an agreement 90 minutes before the start of their regular season. According to ESPN, Prescott’s new deal includes $231 million in guaranteed money and will make him the first player to earn an average of $60 million per year.

Prescott was the MVP runner-up last season after leading the NFL with a career-best 35 touchdown passes. But the 31-year-old’s playoff record fell to 2-5 when he threw a pick-six as part of a first-half meltdown for Dallas in a 48-32 wild-card home loss to Green Bay that stunned owner Jerry Jones’ franchise to date.

Dallas entered the offseason with contract questions about their star quarterback (Prescott), wide receiver (CeeDee Lamb), pass rusher (Micah Parsons) and head coach (Mike McCarthy). After initially signing Lamb to a long-term deal, the Cowboys have now locked their quarterback in for the next four years. Next up is Parsons, who is looking for a record deal of his own. But the coaching situation remains uncertain, as McCarthy enters his fifth year as the team’s head coach looking like a lame duck.

The Cowboys enter a new season with Super Bowl aspirations. And while it took the better part of the offseason to finalize deals for two of their cornerstones, securing deals for Prescott and Lamb will calm speculation that Jones was open to resetting the roster and rebuilding in 2025 if the current group disappoints this year.

Dallas wide receiver Brandin Cooks praised Prescott on Wednesday as the Cowboys faced the challenge of beating Cleveland’s tough defense.

“The guy comes in year after year, year after year. He puts up the numbers, he leads his team,” Cooks said of Prescott. “He can’t do it all by himself. A lot of those great quarterbacks that I’ve played with, Tom (Brady) and Drew (Brees), don’t get me wrong, they’ve won a lot of games, won a lot of Super Bowls, but they’ve had a lot of help around them, right?”

Prescott has won a lot of games – and now has a contract to prove it. But until he wins the right one, there will still be questions in the minds of fans.

“You’ve got to love it, honestly. You’ve got to embrace it,” Prescott said this week. “That’s the challenge. Right now, it’s about staying together … not necessarily putting pressure on ourselves, but understanding that this team is not going to be the same after this. And that’s the heart of it. Yeah, it’s now. Period.”