FRISCO, TX — Dak Prescott previously made it clear that he wanted to play his entire NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, and now he’s taken another major step toward making sure that promise isn’t in vain, just hours before the start of the 2024 regular season against the Cleveland Browns.

Prescott has agreed to terms on a new four-year contract extension worth more than $240 million, according to multiple reports, including NFL.com, with a historic $231 million in guaranteed money.

That means he will remain the team’s franchise quarterback after the 2024 season. The news follows the mega deals the Green Bay Packers awarded to Jordan Love and the Miami Dolphins to Tua Tagovailoa this summer.

Earlier this year, he made it clear that while money is a necessary part of the business side of the game, it is not what gets him up in the morning, nor is it the driving force that motivates him to excel, as a person, as a father or as a player.

“I never played the game for that purpose,” he said Thursday. “I played a game for the pure love of the guys in that locker room. Yeah, this game has always given me something that not many things in life do. That kind of peace, that’s what it does. Just being there between the lines with people that you share a brotherhood with. Yeah, something that’s just special about this game of football and we’re just blessed to have that money come with it, and I’m in the position that I’m in that we can have these conversations.

“But that doesn’t motivate me.”

During the first fully-conducted practice session of Week 1, the three-time Pro Bowler reiterated that he has no desire to stop playing in Dallas and, more specifically, why the thought of winning a Super Bowl with the Cowboys — above any other team — drives him.

“That’s what motivates me to be here, just to be the quarterback that does it, that wins it,” he said. “I don’t think winning anywhere else would be the same as winning here.”

He now has several more chances to achieve that goal.

The 2022 Walter Payton Man of the Year, only the fourth to ever win the award in Dallas, joining Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Jason Witten, Prescott is set to enter another contract year in September, something he is no stranger to as he has previously been given the Cowboys’ franchise tag — those times amounting to contract years — his latest variation, which is unrelated to the tag, is expected to hit the current salary cap of more than $59 million in 2024.

In 2020, Prescott became the first quarterback in Cowboys history to ever be tagged.

His second contract, in 2021, lasted literally just one day, before he signed a four-year contract extension in March 2021 worth up to $160 million, of which $126 million was guaranteed.

Even with the explosive news of the $255.4 million salary cap being set for 2024 (up more than $30 million from last season and nearly $13 million more than expected) and the help it provided the Cowboys, they were still over the salary cap at the time and needed the additional relief that extending Prescott’s contract provided.

“I feel like 24 hours can really change your life,” said All-Pro wideout CeeDee Lamb, himself fresh off a new contract extension that came in late August. “Obviously it’s done that for me and throughout the process that I’ve gone through, and this is Dak’s second time at the table, so I know he’s very familiar with this and how Jerry operates. I have no doubt they’re going to get the job done, but again, he can’t win a game by himself.”

The two sides agreed to a revised deal last spring to provide some breathing room at the time, but this extension is likely to deliver tens of millions of dollars in additional salary cap savings, creating more wiggle room.

With this move, the Cowboys not only guarantee they avoid quarterback purgatory — think Clint Stoerner, Stephen McGee, Quincy Carter, etc. — but it should also free up tens of millions of dollars in 2024 salary cap space that can be rolled over entirely into the 2025 calendar season, or rather whatever portion of it has not been spent by then.

Prescott, a former fourth-round compensatory pick in 2016, is entering his ninth year in the league and has emerged as one of the best in the business. His 2023 season not only earned him a third Pro Bowl nod and his first All-Pro honor, but also a second-place finish in NFL MVP voting, behind only Lamar Jackson.

Prescott finished the 2023 season with the third-most passing yards of his record-setting career (4,516) and second-most touchdowns (36) while throwing his fewest interceptions (9) in a full season since 2018 — completing a 180-degree turn in that category after throwing a career-worst 15 interceptions a year ago.

During his career in Dallas, he has thrown for 29,459 yards and 202 touchdowns, compared to 74 interceptions. He has a regular season record of 73-41, despite playing under two different head coaches, three different play callers and four different quarterback coaches. He also led the Cowboys’ offense, which was the most productive unit last season.

The one constant has been Prescott’s ability to adapt quickly and continue to win despite dealing with debilitating personal setbacks, including tragic losses within his family and a broken leg in 2020 that kept him from finishing the season in a winning position.

In 2024, he became a father for the first time when Margaret Jane (“Baby MJ”) was born, which he says attracted him more than ever before.

Prescott is back on track with McCarthy, the coach who ran the offense for both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, in charge of the offense. The Cowboys head coach also stated earlier this offseason that he and the Cowboys believe Prescott is “part of the solution,” with owner and general manager Jerry Jones noting during training camp: “He’s right up there with his biggest fan.”

They all put their words into action once again and all the players in the locker room are happy with Prescott’s job security.

“Yeah, it’s everything,” he said of the camaraderie in Dallas. “When you play this game, such a physical game, a team game with people you love and you throw yourself into it and vice versa. It makes showing up every day. I don’t even want to say easier, but better. You’re excited.

“You want to come into this locker room, you want to push guys to be better, you want to get to know them and help them on and off the field in every way possible. You become more than employees of each other, or colleagues of each other — more like real brothers and family. And I’ve built some great relationships with teammates over those nine years. And yeah, I’ve been blessed.

“I’m blessed to have so many of those guys.”

It goes without saying that Prescott is expected to do the same when the next postseason begins, assuming the Cowboys earn a spot in the tournament as they have in the previous three seasons. But that’s not something he’s shying away from.

And he’ll get several more chances in his NFL career to wear a Cowboys uniform.