That's the heart of the problem. We are cursed by the success of the 90s. Jerry is seeing Troy, Deion, Irvin, Emmitt, Haley, etc. everywhere and is so desperate to rebuild that old team that he pays and treats pretty good players like they are Hall-of-Famers.
Like why does Lamb have to be #88? Why did Gregory have to be #94? That was a Jerry thing. What did they do to earn that honor? Nothing except it was in Jerry's head that he had drafted the next Irvin and the next Haley.
Same thing with contracts. Remember, way back, when Emmitt held out early in '93 and the team struggled until Jerry craved? Well, we can't let that happen again! Sign Zeke to a massive, franchise-handicapping contract and get him back here!