Dallas Cowboys and NT Ratliff Agree on Contract Extension

The Dallas Cowboys and Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff have agreed to a five-year, $40 million dollar contract extension Friday morning. Part of the deal includes $18 million in guaranteed money and $10 million up-front in the form of a signing bonus.

Last season, Ratliff had 34 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 10 quarterback pressures. The new deal will keep him under-contract through 2017.

Ratliff had been a bargain for the Cowboys since he signed a five-year, $20.5 million dollar contract extension (with and $8 million signing bonus) in mid-December 2007. Since then, he’s made three consecutive Pro Bowls.

The 30-year-old Ratliff would have became an unrestricted free agent after the 2012 season under his current contract. Ratliff's base salary this season was $3.75 million and it was $4.875 million in 2012, but those figures will be upped as part of the new contract extension.

"I am excited to be a Cowboy for life," Ratliff said in a statement Friday afternoon.