Deal puts Ware among NFL’s top-paid players

By CHAREAN WILLIAMS

cjwilliams@star-telegram.com

IRVING — Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware has played like one of the NFL’s best defenders. Now, he is being paid like one.

Ware signed a six-year, $78 million contract extension Monday that includes $40 million in guarantees, including a $20 million signing bonus.

"I feel like I work really hard and am really deserving of what they’ve given me," Ware said in a news conference Monday afternoon. "... All this is behind me now. It’s time to get to work. You know what it’s time to bring home. I’m not going to say what it is. We’re just going to show you, and I’m going to show you."

Ware was in the last year of a contract that paid him $1 million in 2009. The Cowboys could have used the franchise tag on him for 2010 but instead began working on a long-term deal for the All-Pro player at the Senior Bowl last January.

Ware agreed to the deal Sunday, before making two sacks in the Cowboys’ 37-21 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. He now is under contract through the 2015 season, continuing the Cowboys’ trend of locking up their marquee players to long-term deals before they become free agents.

"This is a Cowboy, for all practical purposes, for the rest of his days," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.

Ware, 27, tied for fifth in defensive player of the year voting two years ago and was second behind Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison last season. His league-leading 20 sacks last season tied for sixth-most in NFL history in a single season.

He has four sacks this season — two in each of the past two games — and has 57.5 since the Cowboys used the 11th overall pick on him in 2006.

"I want you to know that was beyond Bill’s [Parcells’] expectation and beyond, frankly, anybody’s reasonable expectation in the [draft] room at the time," Jones said. "He’s a cornerstone player of this franchise and will be for a long time to come. ... It’s an honor to know that he’ll lead us into the future."

Several of the league’s top defensive players signed new deals this year, including defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, linebacker Terrell Suggs and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. Haynesworth signed a seven-year, $100 million deal with the Washington Redskins that guarantees him $41 million; Suggs re-signed with the Baltimore Ravens for $62.5 million — $38.1 million guaranteed — over six years; and Asomugha re-signed with the Oakland Raiders for $45.3 million, including $28.5 million in guarantees, over three seasons.

Ware will make $34 million in the first 12 months of his deal, $40 million in the first two years and $45 million in the first three — the most money for a non-quarterback in NFL history over a three-year span.

Ware’s deal averages $13 million per season.

His agent, Pat Dye Jr., had offered a proposal that got Ware closer to quarterbacks Eli Manning and Philip Rivers in average yearly salary. Manning and Rivers signed extensions in August, with Manning getting $97 million over six years — a $16.2 million per year average — and Rivers getting $92 million over six years — a $15.3 million per season average.

"How do you ask for too much money for DeMarcus Ware given what he’s accomplished in his first four seasons?" Dye said. "They were patient. We were asking for a lot more money than we ended up settling on. But we got some clarity with the Manning deal and the Rivers deal, and ultimately they convinced us they were not going to pay DeMarcus like an elite quarterback, and certainly we understood that."

Instead, the Cowboys agreed to make him one of the league’s highest-paid defenders.

"The defense part of this wasn’t a problem," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "... But we’ve got to run a team. Pat knew that. We said that. We can’t do things that are irresponsible. We’re certainly not going to be a team that’s going to step up and pay a defensive player like a quarterback. We’re not going to do that."

It was more than enough to leave a smiling Ware with celebratory dinner plans for Monday night.

"He’s buying," Dye said.

Staff writer Jeff Caplan contributed to this report.

Charean Williams, 817-390-7760

Looking for comments?