Why Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys caved on Zack Martin stance and why that’s a good thing
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones may be stubborn.
But Jones is no dummy.
Looking for a reason why Jones ultimately caved on his hard-line stance with holdout guard Zack Martin and gave him a restructured contract with $8.5 million added to his deal over the next two years?
The Cowboys have too much riding on this season, which arguably represents their best opportunity to end the 28-year drought and reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995, to be playing chicken with the player who has been the best at what he does since he joined the team as a first-round pick in 2014.
Martin is already a sure-fire Hall of Famer with eight trips to the Pro Bowl and named to first-team All-Pro six times and second-team twice.
The Cowboys have no chance realizing any of their expectations without Martin.
“He is indispensable. We had to have him on the field,” Jones said wisely before Saturday’s second preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks. “He never, in any way, gave any indication to me that he was not gonna be on the field. We felt the way he felt and he obviously felt the way we felt, that’s why he’s here.”
Jones and Martin had a meeting of the minds during a face-to-face visit when the Cowboys went home from training camp for the preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend.
It led to a truce and the end Martin’s 21-day hold out.
But Jones didn’t need the meeting or the woeful play of the potential guard replacements to come to his senses and do the right thing by Martin and the Cowboys.
Too much is riding on this season. The Cowboys have too good of a roster. They know it and believe it. And they don’t anything messing up their chemistry, especially something of Jones’ own doing.
“I feel good about this team,” Jones said. ”It had everything to do with what we did with Zack. I do feel very strong about the team. I didn’t feel like we needed to have a hiccup there. That influenced me a lot. I think the most important thing is I like where the whole team is emotionally, expectation-wise. I think Mike and the coaches have done a great job. We didn’t need to have any downers.”
One of the reasons Jones initially said he couldn’t meet Martin’s contract demands was because of the others players who the Cowboys are planning to pay in the near future, including linebacker Micah Parsons, quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Jones said the Cowboys will have less money for others, but Martin is worth it and this season is worth it.
“We still have to [pay those guys],” Jones said. “It’s gonna be more difficult. We made do with what we don’t have. We have less money, but that’s OK. We put it to good use. It’s going to the right man.”
“We need Zack. We’re gonna need these other guys too, but we’ll have to get in and work through. It’s what you’re dealing with, it’s nothing exact here. There are degrees to everything here.”
The Cowboys have time to get Prescott, Lamb and Parsons’ contracts done. None on them were threatening to wreck the season with their contract demands.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Jones is smart enough to know that you have to take care of the problem right in front of your face first, especially when it means the most to the big picture of trying to win a Super Bowl now.
He ain’t no dummy.
