NFL: Cowboys, Ware Agree to Contract Terms

IRVING, Texas - Three-time Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware finally has his big contract with the Dallas Cowboys. He just won't be getting paid as much as some of the elite quarterbacks he will be trying to sack.

After months of talks that intensified over the past two weeks, Ware agreed Monday to a $78 million, six-year deal through the 2015 season that guarantees him $40 million.

"I feel like I work really hard and am really deserving of what they've given me," Ware said. "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."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called Ware a "cornerstone player" for the Cowboys (4-2), who have gone 12 seasons without winning a playoff game and longer than that since winning three Super Bowl championships in four seasons (1992-95).

The 27-year-old Ware, who was in the final season of the contract he signed after being the 11th overall pick in the 2005 draft, has 57½ sacks while starting all 70 of his regular-season games.

"Going into this negotiation, how do you ask for too much money for DeMarcus Ware given what he's accomplished," said his agent, Pat Dye. "We were asking for a lot more money than we ended up settling on. ... Ultimately they convinced us they were not going to pay DeMarcus like an elite quarterback and certainly we understood that."

There were initial talks about a deal after last season, but Dye said contracts signed in August by quarterbacks Eli Manning (six years, $97 million with $35 million guaranteed) and Philip Rivers (six years, $93 million with $38 million guaranteed) provided "some kind of ceiling" and narrowed the focus in negotiations. Talks picked up during the Cowboys' bye week which preceded their 37-21 victory over Atlanta on Sunday.

"We're certainly not going to be a team that's going to step up and pay a defensive player like a quarterback," said Stephen Jones, the team's vice president and owner's son. "We're not going to do that."

Still, Jones and Dye said the negotiations were never contentious.