The Cowboys said all year a contract extension for outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware was their No. 1 priority, and Monday the two sides made it official just before an afternoon press conference.
Ware's six-year, $78 million deal is the largest in club history. He is guaranteed at least $40 million in the contract, which runs through the 2015 season and can pay him an average of $13 million annually.
The two sides reached a verbal agreement over the contract around noon Sunday, owner-general manager Jerry Jones shaking hands with the pass rush specialist during pregame stretching. Ware will make $34 million in the first 12 months of the contract, $40 million in the first two years and $45 million over the first three years.
It is the largest three-year total for a non-quarterback in league history, and the most the Cowboys have ever paid a player.
Ware will be 33 when the deal expires, and the talk Monday was of the Auburn, Ala. native being a lifetime Cowboy.
"He's a cornerstone player of this franchise, and will be for a long time to come," Jones said.
Club Executive Vice President Stephen Jones acknowledged shortly after last season the Cowboys and Ware's camp had little disagreement about Ware's status as one of the NFL's best defensive players, if not the best. Still, the two sides weren't close to finalizing a deal until just last week.
Agent Pat Dye Jr. said he and the Cowboys first met to discuss an extension at the Senior Bowl in January. The team's initial offer included a $12 million average over the life of the contract. Several counteroffers were traded until August, when the extensions for quarterbacks Eli Manning in New York and Philip Rivers in San Diego set a ceiling for the negotiations.
Dye and Ware had wanted to see the contracts other defensive players around the league would sign during the off-season. In February, the Washington Redskins lured defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth away from Tennessee with a seven-year, $100 million deal, the first four years of which were guaranteed at $12 million annually. And Oakland gave cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha $28.5 million guaranteed through 2010, with an option for a third year that could push the total package to $45 million.
The Cowboys and Ware haggled over the number of years the deal would include - the team wanting seven, and Ware's side preferring no more than six. Dye said the number of years was a sticking point until just last week. Dye admitted the scale of the contract was much smaller than he and Ware had asked originally.
If no agreement was reached, the Cowboys could have used the franchise tag on Ware for the next three seasons. In the final year of the $13 million rookie contract he signed as the 11th overall pick in 2005, Ware was making just over $1 million this season.
"When Manning came in at $16 (million annually) and Rivers came in at $15 (million annually), I felt like it kind of compressed our market some," Dye said. "The fact we were coming off a very low platform, that being $1 million this year, and the fact they had three tags in their pocket they could have used on us, and the fact they did it after the guy had only completed four seasons is what was so compelling about the scenario."
While the Cowboys might have had some advantages at the negotiating table, Ware's production and the team's desire to build around him were also sizeable bargaining chips.
"We didn't' have a lot of leverage either," Jerry Jones said. "It's important for our franchise's future for him to be here. He's gone beyond anything we could've imagined when we drafted him."
A starter from Day One, Ware has totaled 57.5 sacks in 70 career games, including 4.0 this season. He has never missed a game, and Jerry Jones said the Cowboys medical staff sees no signs of an impending physical depreciation.
"I know Pat and myself were wanting to come up with the right deal for both DeMarcus and the franchise," Stephen Jones said. "There was no question we were going to get something done, and it was just a matter of making sure that everybody felt good about it."
Joined at the press conference by his wife, Taniqua, Ware said the negotiations weren't a distraction during the first part of the season.
"It's just really an honor and a privilege to be a part of sort of the dream team - America's Team," Ware said. "These guys really stepped in and put their foot into it and said 'DeMarcus, you're the player, you've put in the work and you've put in the time, and we're going to show you how appreciative we are for what you do.'"
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