Should the Dallas Cowboys pay star RB Ezekiel Elliott? Is that a real question?
Should the Dallas Cowboys pay Ezekiel Elliott?
Is that a real question?
Like for real, for real?
Does anybody watch football anymore or do we just analyze numbers?
For those who are seriously contemplating this question, put your spreadsheets away and watch the damn game.
More importantly, how about putting on tape of the Cowboys over the last three seasons since Elliott was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Elliott has not only won two rushing titles and led the league in rushing yards per game the past three seasons, but he has literally been the foundation of any success the Cowboys have had on offense during that time, which includes two NFC East titles and a 28-12 record when he has been on the field.
Vice president Stephen Jones has even called Elliott “the straw that stirs the drink.”
So what are we really talking about?
Those who know understand that the question, in the minds of the Cowboys, is not about ‘paying’ Elliott, it’s about when.
This has nothing to do with the decline of the running back or their decision to walk away from DeMarco Murray after the 2014 season when he led the league in yards and carries.
Murray was 27 then and carried an injury-riddled reputation.
The truth is that the Cowboys just didn’t think he was that special and worth the money.
If the circumstances were different, the Cowboys would have paid then-Vikings running back Adrian Peterson if he was available at that time.
So they still valued the running back position. So much so that they spent a premium first-round pick on Elliott two years later.
And you don’t take a guy fourth overall if you don’t think he is a transcendent player and you certainly don’t waste a high pick on a player you plan to keep for just five years.
The Cowboys decided Elliott was a foundational piece for years to come when they made the decision to draft him in 2016.
That much is clear.
Again, the issue here is when to pay him.
Jones said in February that the team planned to reward Elliott with a deal similar to Rams running back Todd Gurley “at some point in time.”
And that’s what has Elliott frustrated and contemplating a training camp hold out.
He wants to get paid now.
He wants his money before his fourth season, just like Gurley.
Unlike Murray, Elliott is still young. He just turned 24 and is in the prime of his career.
The time is now for him to maximize his earning potential.
Sure he will be fined $40,000 a day for holding out if he chooses to go that route. And he would lose the opportunity to earn an accrued season if he doesn’t report by Aug. 6.
But a Cowboys team looking to build on last season’s success can’t afford to play without Elliott.
Aging owner Jerry Jones, who “doesn’t have time to have a bad time,” remembers all too well the failure of his team with NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith holding out for the first two games in 1993. He will assuredly blink first. And it won’t take Charles Haley putting a helmet through the wall at AT&T Stadium for him to act.
But it shouldn’t come to that.
The Cowboys need to pay Elliott now.
He is healthy and injury-free. The only games he has missed were the six in 2017 due to an NFL suspension.
To that end, language can be put into any contract to cover the team for off-field issues.
It’s easier to do a deal for him than one for quarterback Dak Prescott or receiver Amari Cooper. Any deal for Elliott will be cheaper because he is a running back.
Never mind that he might be the team’s most indispensable player, and arguably their best one too.
A deal for Elliot would likely top off at $15 million annually, compared to possibly $32 million for Prescott and $17 million for Cooper.
And while there is some consternation over what Prescott and Cooper are worth compared to other players in the league, the bar has already been definitively set for Prescott.
Elliott is the best running back in the NFL, statistically. Stephen Jones has already said that Gurley deal, which is the highest for any running back in the league, is the starting point for any deal for Elliott.
So take Gurley’s deal, worth $60 million over four years, adjust it for inflation and present something reasonable to Elliott.
No fuss, no muss.
More importantly, since the Cowboys plan on doing it anyway, it makes more sense to do it now than later.
A four-year deal means that Elliott would be in the last year at 28.
That assures they will get the best of Elliott over the lifetime of the contract rather than next year or two years from now when his contract is up and the concerns over him wearing down and them paying him for past production in the final years of the deal rather than future success are seemingly more legitimate.
And If anyone tells you paying Elliott would ruin the team’s salary cap or prevents them from signing others, they are either trying to carry the water for a management team that is worried about that or they don’t understand the Cowboys salary cap.
The team has roughly $24 million in cap room on the 2019 cap and roughly $75 million in 2020.
The Cowboys have the room and space to sign Elliott, Prescott and Cooper.
If the goal is to truly put the best team on the field to win now, a happy and paid Elliott in the prime of his career would be the best bet.
Cha-Ching.
This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
