Adam Schefter BREAKING: Cowboys have signed Dak Prescott on 4-yr; Justin Fields will starting Week 1

breaking news in a lot of different places we know have two more I wish you could all see Adam shefer working in the phones up there frantically cheffy I see you huge stories go greeny my head is about to combust but Justin Fields is going to start today a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers they've made the decision to go with him over Russell Wilson who's been dealing with a calf injury but that's only the subplot to the major story moments ago the Dallas Cowboys finalized a 4year 240 million doll contract extension with Dak Prescott that makes him the highest paid player in football new contract new record deal they get the deal done just hours before the Cowboys play the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland a record deal for Dak Prescott and so just before the season begins the Cowboys make CD lamb the second highest paid wide receiver in football and now they've made Dak Prescott the highest paid quarterback in football you see some of the numbers on the other quarterbacks involved Dak has reset the market right now and is preventing him from getting to free agancy after the season as he was bound to now this is a story that would have hung over the Dallas Cowboys all year long but they were negotiating all weekend long trying to get this deal done and on the morning of the game they finally come to an agreement that will keep Dak in Dallas for the next five years minimum outstanding Adam shefer again with the enormous news two different let's start there Dak Prescott we may have mentioned him a time or two on my weekday show get up over the course of the Summer with the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season instead Alex four years $240 million what's your reaction good for him welld deserved I mean listen this is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and he's played for the most valuable franchise in sport in the world right and this is I mean it is it is a huge job and he has taken it on since his rookie year he is played his way into this this is again well earned uh incredibly happy for him obviously to happen you know hours before kickoff is crazy right I don't know how that happens but you know again can they put this aside them and move forward they got a tall task today taken on in Cleveland team that that one of the best defenses in the NFL last year uh can't wait to watch but for Dak again no matter how you feel about Dallas and him he is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL this is well earned there are a few things that have to be said here guys and I'm sorry but I think the convers look good for him he deserves it he's earned it and all the rest of that but to get this deal done on the day of the Season means all that money that they were not able to free up at the time of free agency right around the draft and all the time that all these other teams were making these big moves they were Paralyzed by the CD lamb deal they were Paralyzed by the Dak Prescott deal and so their team didn't get better it just got more expensive I think you could there's a lot of room for criticism of the Cowboys if they were willing to go to this deal the the idea that deadline spur actions is one thing but the other side of it is is this team got worse they lost players and they weren't able to replace them because they didn't have the money to do it because these deals were hanging over their heads they should have been done months ago you're talking you're talking a Tim table that doesn't concern the person that's uh making these deals this is Jerry time right this is Jerry's time I mean and I I I wondered I wondered how long he would let this go I was thinking in the offseason well maybe he wants to see a motivated Dak have to prove himself throughout the course of the year is that whole thing trying to read in through cryptic Jerry Jones comments about uh you know playoff success and then um regular season success and you know I can't I can't pay everybody and all of this stuff I mean was it a fact of did he want to motivate Dak I mean it doesn't seem it's that way so maybe your criticism has some Merit but here we are right before the regular season Dak gets his money I mean I had him third in mi MVP voting I thought he he is a fantastic player spectacular player I mean I think he can even go off to an MVP campaign this year he is that good in my opinion welld deserved for him congratulations to your point real quick Greenie the delay on both these contracts cost the Dallas Cowboys money and cap space right we saw the receiver Market move because they delayed all those deals that got done we just saw the quarterback market right probably could have got this done for 55 maybe a long time ago they wait obviously C more he has one more million guaranteed than deshun Watson so it is the most guaranteed money in any contract in history the question is is there any reason to think this team gets better they would have the best running back room in the entire NFL if this was 2019 but they had have Zeke Elliott and and and and the situation that they have there they do not have they were not able to replenish in that area they've lost offensive lineman they've lost people off of that defense they made the coordinator change Randy is their reason to believe this team is going to get better rather than just more expensive well when do we stop rewarding greatness when did we stop doing that last year you talk about a record setting season between CD lamb and his quarterback Dak Prescott so reward those guys kudos to Dak Prescott and them boys getting it their job done but to your point did it make the team better or did they get worse I think that the team is very stagnant right now and re and and the reason why is where is the help coming from if there's no CD lamb and who do they have we don't know what we're getting back we're getting out of the running back position so like I said they got the job done it's about to contract but where does the Dallas Cowboys go from here we see them bounce out the playoffs year in and year out it's time for them to make that next step by giving Dak that money do they make the next step well I I can say this I mean it's uh for the future they absolutely made the right move Dak Prescott's one of the best quarterbacks in the league and the thing that I like most about him I think he's the best leader in the National Football League he puts it all on himself to the point where he gets criticized by pundits everywhere that don't know anything about the game or ripping them uh beyond belief but he takes every bullet and he makes it easier for for his teammates and everything else that's what I love about Dak Prescot by the way he was a four-time captain in college four-time captain I got I got a question for you Rex the head coach is this something you address like right before the game that Dak got paid as a your to your team like of course everybody's going to find out that he gets paid I mean is there something you address and you have like they're already going to know it all that stuff but let's go out and kick the you know what out of this football thing which by the way ain't going to be easy go but but grey I have to say this this still one of the most talented teams in the National Football League and okay they maybe not they they never got better no they got to get better in the playoffs when it counts not when you got coaches trying to get head coaching jobs somewhere else they got to do the job too I think that's what happened last so we've got that situation and as Chef D mentioned we also have the situation in Atlanta where Dan Graziano was standing by and covering we know Justin Fields is getting the start today Dan what can you tell us yeah Justin Fields is getting the start today look he came out here he was the first guy taking all the warm-up reps at Kyle Allen the backup was actually the second guy and then Russell through uh so it it seemed like it was the worst kept secret here in the building in Atlanta uh to this point so it will be Justin Fields they're going to sit Russell Wilson out with that calf they don't want to do anything to risk a a more serious injury that could knock Russell Wilson out for a longer period of time I've talked to some Steelers players tight end Pat friou told me we have great confidence in Justin and his abilities he said he thought the Reps that Justin Fields got in training camp when Russell Wilson first hurt that calf were huge in terms of Justin confidence and the team's confidence in him remember they're all still getting to know each other Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both new in Pittsburgh this year in terms of the offense I talked to the offensive coordinator Arthur Smith former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith he said that they were not building two different offenses they're both mobile quarterbacks obviously Justin a lot more mobile these days than Russell Wilson is but both guys that can create on the run so they don't have to make major changes I think you can probably expect to see more quarterback designed runs with Justin Fields just because they'll want to take advantage of that part of his game but it's not like they have to change the game plan significantly it'll be Justin Fields who got a ton of first team reps in training camp and he's getting his shot here in week one for the Steelers all right so as you can see we're just inside 90 minutes until kickoff inactives are going a minute on that but quick reaction here what's this offense going to look like today with Justin first of all yeah this this he's right this is the worst kept secret here because this was probably made last night or before because just a little tip when when you're watching pregame warm-ups and you see a player out there and there's no coaches and there's no trainers around him he's done it's not going to happen there's no urgency on it so of course this is going to be Justin Fields what does this offense look like today with him at quarterback all I know what Arthur Smith said there about this is the same offense I think the big question is going to be how much QB driven run do we see you are talking about one of the best Runners of the football maybe the best at the quarterback position this guy is unbelievably Dynamic and we've even this time in Chicago we never saw them commit to this now he's got Arthur Smith this run game Guru who's played with we had Marcus M before earlier in his career who was a running guy is he going to commit to this cuz this could be a run game Behemoth right you got George picking on the outside FR with the tight end it could make things pretty tough for this Atlanta defense you know I'm I'm anxious to see what he's going to do in a short yardage situation I said before about him having a Redemption type game with the former head coach and Arthur Smith I just want to see how he's going to use Justin fields in a short game will he keep it will he hand it off I don't know it'll be a great chest game to see though all right so we will not see Russell Wilson we will see Justin Fields as another player that we now do expect to see as the inactives have been announced Adam shefer take us to Cincinnati well green on a morning of big stories here's the latest headline Jamar Chase is active today for the Cincinnati Bengals that has been his decision whether or not to play it was always going to be up to him whether or not to play and he apparently has made the decision that he feels strong enough to be active today now we'll see how much for spee see spee foree speech for for for e [Music] for for spee for spe foree spee [Music] for [Music] for for e for [Music] [Music] okay on fore foreign speech spe spee