After months of contract-related jousting – some of it from Dak Prescott’s side, with strong suggestions about his willingness to depart Dallas – the team leader and MVP quarterback on Thursday may have permitted us a glimpse into his Cowboys-lovin’ heart.

Does Prescott want to get paid in a huge way, somewhere, while also winning a Super Bowl, somewhere? Indeed.

But the framework that he’d like those successes to occur within? With him as a member of “America’s Team.”

“That’s what motivates me on being here, just to be the quarterback that does it, that wins it,” Prescott said. “I don’t think that winning it any other place would be the same as winning it here.”

“That’s A-No. 1 why I want to be here, to be honest with you.”

That’s not business talk; this is personal talk.

That’s not angrily hinting at stiffing Jerry and Stephen Jones at the negotiating table while careening, blinders on, toward whichever NFL team will make him the highest-paid NFL player ever; this is his heart talking.

That’s not Dak The Mercenary. This is “Cowboy for Life” stuff.

Dak has guided the Cowboys to three straight 12-win seasons. But that isn’t enough for his army of critics … and it isn’t enough for him, either. He is acutely aware of this franchise’s championship pedigree and the quarterbacks who have become icons because of it. He’s long had the support, mentorship of Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.

The only way to join in their legacy is to win a Super Bowl … in Dallas.

That hasn’t happened here in 29 years, when Aikman’s Cowboys won three in four years. Do the Joneses believe it can happen with Dak? They insist they do.

And now we have Dak – who is entering his ninth season here, having reached financial heights he surely never dreamed of, heights that might not have been available to him in other NFL cities,  insisting that the Cowboys really do matter to him.

Prescott finished second to Lamar Jackson in last season’s MVP voting. He’s put up numbers. He’s accumulated honors. Playoff success has eluded him. But the bond is here, and it extends to his glorious home just north of The Star featuring the backyard “Dak-Yard” football field that plays host to Cowboys buddies who come on over to work out.

Will Prescott enter a contract year without an extension? That’s always been an awkward possibility. But both sides set this week, the start of the NFL season, as a “soft deadline” of sorts. There is buzz that agent Todd France and Stephen Jones are hammering away and making progress.

And as part of Dak’s heart-felt presentation here inside The Star on Thursday, he humorously created a tie between his Dak-Yard, his Cowboys connections, his Super Bowl dream and his contract talks.

“There’s been days here where it’s been hot (while working out with teammates at his house),” he said with a grin. “Maybe I can put a bubble on it with a new contract.”