CLEVELAND — It was a special day for Dak Prescott — from start to finish. Season openers are always memorable, but establishing yourself as the league’s highest-paid player ever and winning 33-17 on foreign soil is an unforgettable streak of sunshine.

Prescott insisted that his contract extension negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys, which were approaching a soft deadline on Sunday, weren’t distracting him from preparing for the team’s first kickoff. Still, it felt like a major cloud hanging over the team’s future quickly lifted when he learned of a four-year, $240 million extension that morning.

Prescott hopes he’ll feel it when the day is over and the contract is signed.

“I hope after today we’re done talking about it and my pockets,” Prescott said with a laugh. “And just move on and focus on this team and the success that we plan on having and working toward.”

Prescott’s rhetoric showed sincerity and honesty as he explained Thursday that he was leaving the bulk of the negotiations leading up to the game to his agent, Todd France, and the Cowboys.

After a brief conversation with Jerry Jones during training on Saturday, in which Jones said “surprise the world and put this behind us,” Prescott said he had only one conversation with France before giving him the good news of a deal via FaceTime on Sunday morning.

The call came while he was getting bodywork done in his hotel room with his hired specialist, along with teammate and good friend Ezekiel Elliott — who became the first person to hug and embrace the league’s newest richest player. Prescott then called his marketing team, girlfriend and father to pass on the good news before turning his attention back to the game.

“If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said I would go into the game without (an agreement),” he said. “And that didn’t mean the contract talks would stop, but I would just focus on what I could control.”

“It was good to wrap up these questions.”

One of the first phone calls Prescott received was from Jerry Jones himself, eager to share his support and goals for the coming years.

“He called me afterward, congratulated me, obviously,” Prescott said. “I thanked him and he said, ‘I want you to be the quarterback here.'”

“He said the player, of course, but he also said the person and that meant a lot. I just want to do my end of the deal and deliver for him.”

His goal, in his mind, is to reach the ultimate pinnacle of the sport and win a Super Bowl. It’s a task that seemed unattainable during his eight seasons, but Prescott is confident he has a ring in his cards.

On Thursday, before a deal was struck, Prescott said he wanted to be the “QB who wins it” in Dallas. Now that he’s in Dallas for the foreseeable future, he’s betting on himself to cash in — theoretically this time, of course.

“That’s my only motivation to do my part of the deal and just deliver,” he said. “That’s what’s at the forefront of my mind, not the money. It’s about doing my part of the deal and winning, and I want to do that here.”