Dak Prescott and the Cowboys agree on $240 million deal that is the first at $60 million per year

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys gave Dak Prescott everything he wanted. He intends to pay them back in full.

Hours before the season opened, Prescott agreed to a $240 million, four-year contract with the Cowboys, making the quarterback the NFL's highest paid player while giving him a chance to win a Super Bowl for a team he loves.

“I wanted to be a Cowboy,” he said. “I wanted to stay a Cowboy and it got done.”

Prescott is the first in league history to average $60 million per season, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn't been announced.

The runner-up in NFL MVP voting was entering the final year of a $160 million, four-year contract that was a franchise record before this deal. It includes $231 million guaranteed, the person said, $1 million more than the record fully guaranteed deal Deshaun Watson signed with the Browns two years ago.

“I had an obligation to the league and to the other quarterbacks,” he said. “It's because I was up (due) and the next guy, I expect to beat me.”

Prescott was in his Cleveland hotel room getting ready to leave for Sunday's game against the Browns when his agent told him the deal was complete.

He then went out and threw one touchdown pass while leading the Cowboys to an easy 33-17 win in their season opener.

There had been speculation for weeks about whether the sides could reach an agreement. Prescott was entering his final year under contract and had hoped for a definitive answer that finally came.

“In any negotiation, one side wants something and the other side wants something else,” he said. “You've got to meet in the middle. I'm just glad it's done and it works for everyone.”

Prescott said he spoke with owner and general manager Jerry Jones on Saturday and was assured the Cowboys were willing to finalize a deal.

“I know that these numbers are beyond anything that I could have ever imagined,” Jones told reporters about an hour before kickoff.

Prescott has led the Cowboys to the playoffs the past three seasons and five times in his first eight years. But Dallas is looking for a postseason breakthrough that hasn't happened since the last of the franchise's five Super Bowl titles to cap the 1995 season.

The 31-year-old said repeatedly he wanted to stay with Dallas and be the QB to get the club past the divisional round for the first time in 29 years. Prescott now will get at least several more chances.

“It's about me holding up my end of the deal,” he said.

“This was the thing to do for what we're here for and that is to win a championship,” Jones said. “I gave everything I ever had or hoped to have to get a chance to be a part of the Cowboys. And it's beyond my fondest dreams where we stand today.”

The deal with Prescott comes less than two weeks after Dallas made All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb the second-highest paid player at his position with a $136 million, four-year contract.

Prescott was a fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State in 2016 when Tony Romo was entering his 10th full season as the starter.

Romo injured his back in a preseason game, which led to Prescott starting from Week 1 of his rookie season after backup Kellen Moore also was injured before the opener.

After losing to the New York Giants, Prescott led an 11-game winning streak that was a franchise record in a single season.

Prescott edged teammate Ezekiel Elliott, his running back, for 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors as they led the Cowboys to the top seed in the NFC before losing their playoff debut to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

The first playoff victory with Prescott came two years later against Seattle before a divisional loss at the Los Angeles Rams.

The first of three straight 12-win playoff seasons in 2021 ended with a wild-card loss to San Francisco at home.

Prescott played one of the best games of his career a year later in a wild-card victory at Tampa Bay that was Tom Brady's last game. Another loss to the 49ers, this time in San Francisco, followed.

Hopes for a deep Dallas playoff run were their highest under Prescott last season when the Cowboys surged to the NFC's No. 2 seed late and were in position to get past the divisional round at home.

Dallas didn't even get to that game, with Prescott's pick-6 part of a first-half meltdown for the team in a stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to Jordan Love and the Packers.

Arguably the most disappointing loss in the 34 years since Jones bought the team clouded a great regular season for Prescott, who led the NFL with a career-high 36 touchdown passes against nine interceptions and threw for 4,516 yards.

Prescott was already climbing the career QB charts for the Cowboys and now will have a chance to pass Romo and a pair of Pro Football Hall of Famers, and multiple Super Bowl winners, in Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach.

All three of his predecessors are still ahead of Prescott in career wins, with Prescott now four shy of Romo's 78 in third. Prescott is second in TDs, 44 behind Romo, and third in yards behind Romo and Aikman.

Prescott is the club's career leader with a 67% completion percentage. He has 29,638 yards passing and 203 touchdowns.

AP Pro Football Writers Schuyler Dixon and Rob Maaddi contributed.

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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a pass under pressure from Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) in the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott responds to questions during a news conference after the team's NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) scrambles away from pressure by Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, left, in the first half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) runs drills during an NFL football practice at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks Trey Lance (19) and Dak Prescott (4) talk with head coach Mike McCarthy during an NFL football practice at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a pass during an NFL football practice at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Salvagers successfully towed a Greek-flagged oil tanker ablaze for weeks after attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels to a safe area without any oil spill, a European Union naval mission said Monday.

The Sounion reached waters away from Yemen as the Houthis meanwhile claimed that they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone, with video circulating online showing what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile strike and flaming wreckage strewn across the ground.

The two events show the challenges still looming for the world as it tries to mitigate a monthslong campaign by the rebels over the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. While the rebels allowed the Sounion to be moved, they continue to threaten ships moving through the Red Sea, a waterway that once saw $1 trillion in goods move through it a year.

The EU naval mission, known as Operation Aspides, issued a statement via the social platform X announcing the ship had been moved.

The Sounion “has been successfully towed to a safe area without any oil spill,” the EU mission said. “While private stakeholders complete the salvage operation, Aspides will continue to monitor the situation.”

The Houthis had no immediate comment and it wasn't clear where the vessel was, though it likely was taken north away from Yemen. Salvagers still need to offload some 1 million barrels of crude oil aboard the Sounion, which officials feared could leak into the Red Sea, killing marine life and damaging corals in the waterway.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it was aware of the Houthis' claimed downing of a drone over the country's southwestern Dhamar province, without elaborating.

The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past in their ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war. However, the online video bolstered the claim, particularly after two recent claims by the Houthis included no evidence.

Other videos showed armed rebels gathered around the flaming wreckage, a propeller similar to those used by the armed drone visible in the flames. One attempted to pick up a piece of the metal before dropping it due to the heat. The Houthis later aired their own footage of the shootdown and debris.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, identified the drone as an MQ-9, without elaborating on how he came to the determination. He said it was the third downed by the group in a week, though the other two claims did not include similar video or other evidence. The U.S. military similarly has not acknowledged losing any aircraft.

Saree said the Houthis used a locally produced missile. However, Iran has armed the rebels with a surface-to-air missile known as the 358 for years. Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in seaborne shipments heading to Yemen despite a United Nations arms embargo.

Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA over Yemen for years.

The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also published footage Monday of what they have claimed was a hypersonic missile that they used to attack Israel on Sunday. The rebels described it as a two-stage, solid-fuel missile with a range of 2,150 kilometers (1,335 miles).

Israel's military has dismissed the claim the missile was hypersonic, a term referring to missiles that are maneuverable and also move at speeds multiple times the speed of sound when they re-enter the atmosphere from space.

Parts of the missile landed in an open area in central Israel and triggered air raid sirens at its international airport, but injured no one. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to retaliate over the attack the Houthis launched with the Palestine 2 missile.

Asked if the missile was hypersonic, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said officials “assess this to be a ballistic missile,” without elaborating.

“I think it’s fair to say that the Houthis are still continuing to see support from Iran,” Singh added. “I think it’s fair to say that Iran continues to back their groups, whether that be through financial means or in tangible capabilities. We continue to do our job in disrupting their capability ... whether it be dynamic strikes or protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.”

This photo released by the European Union’s Operation Aspides shows warships attached to the mission escorting salvage ships in the Red Sea on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a European Union naval mission said Saturday. (European Union's Operation Aspides via AP)

This photo released by the European Union’s Operation Aspides shows warships attached to the mission escorting salvage ships in the Red Sea on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a European Union naval mission said Saturday. (European Union's Operation Aspides via AP)

This photo released by the European Union's Operation Aspides naval force shows the oil tanker Sounion burning in the Red Sea following a series of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (European Union's Operation Aspides via AP)

In this photo released of EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, the EU naval mission working in the Red Sea, on the X-platform formerly known as Twitter, on Sept. 16, 2024, the Greek-flagged oil tanker MV-Sounion, left, is towed. Salvagers successfully towed a Greek-flagged oil tanker ablaze for weeks after attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels to a safe area without any oil spill, a European Union naval mission said Monday. (EUNAFOR ASPIDES via AP)