Twitter: Zeke on how big this year is for his contract situation

[Praxit]

..will need to have good year. Then ball will be in his court.

 

[jazzcat22]

Howdy Jazz!
Just speculation on my part.
I hope he has 2,000 yards, and gets a reasonable contract extention from Jerry for the future.
How's that for optimism ?

Oh, I understand the speculation.
I speculate he has a bounce back season.
Injury free of course, as well, the OL play is better also.

 

[CWR]

Were you born in the 90s?

Here are a couple of examples off the top of my head..

John Riggins was released by the Jets and treated as a blocking fullback his first two season with the Ratscums. Until they figured out he could still run it. He then had his two best seasons in the NFL in years 13 and 14.. when he was 34 and 35!!

Our own Emmitt Smith was left for dead after two sub par seasons in '96 and '97... His answer was a 1300 yard season followed by a 1400 (1397) yard season and ending with a 1200 yard season. Not as good as his three best seasons but all three were better than his rookie season by a wide margin.

Ricky Williams going to Miami and Frank Gore had a resurgence. I think the Jets had one like that too, was it Curtis Martin? It does happen, and Zeke is still really good at what he does. We just can't justify his contract anymore.

 

[jazzcat22]

Ricky Williams going to Miami and Frank Gore had a resurgence. I think the Jets had one like that too, was it Curtis Martin? It does happen, and Zeke is still really good at what he does. We just can't justify his contract anymore.

Can't justify any contract anymore. Even Rowdy is probably over paid.

 

[john van brocklin]

Oh, I understand the speculation.
I speculate he has a bounce back season.
Injury free of course, as well, the OL play is better also.

I can roll with that scenerio

 

[CWR]

Not to be argumentative but I thought the reports were that Pollard's actually WAS a tear but that was better than stretching/spraining it because you kinda know what you have and the healing process is "cleaner." But maybe I read that wrong last year..

That's how I remember it as well. There wasn't a risk of further damage so they let him roll.

 

[CWR]

Can't justify any contract anymore. Even Rowdy is probably over paid.

Rowdy been overpaid since day one. Lol

 

[basel90]

what a waste. He already has Jerry's money . anything more he can sucker out of jerry or another idiotic GM out there , is extra gravy.
Jerry likes to stick to his picks until they die, LOL

 

[RonnieT24]

Ricky Williams going to Miami and Frank Gore had a resurgence. I think the Jets had one like that too, was it Curtis Martin? It does happen, and Zeke is still really good at what he does. We just can't justify his contract anymore.

I still this is more Moore's fault than Zeke's. If the Cowboys were still a run first team handing Zeke the ball 20 times a game, first and foremost they wouldn't be paying Dak 40 million a year and would have that money to spend elsewhere. I also think that offensive style marries up better with a pretty good defense which is what we now have. That's why I have to laugh at those who keep acting as if it's Zeke's contract that is hamstringing the Cowboys.. when before they redid Lawrence and traded Coop he was going to be the 4th or 5th highest paid player on the team. Sixth if they had signed Gregory. My contention is that handing Zeke the ball wins us more games and saves us money at the QB position. But it does require that we not have weak links in the middle of the offensive line and it requires that Moore not run him exclusively into the teeth of the defense, often behind said weak links, so there's that. Maybe it's just not meant to be.

 

[john van brocklin]

Rowdy been overpaid since day one. Lol

Rowdy should be paying the Cowboys!
Get that freak outta here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[slick325]

Good answer Zeke! Focus on staying healthy, being in shape, playing All Pro or Pro Bowl football and helping the 2022 iteration of the Dallas Cowboys possibly win a SB.

 

[CWR]

I still this is more Moore's fault than Zeke's. If the Cowboys were still a run first team handing Zeke the ball 20 times a game, first and foremost they wouldn't be paying Dak 40 million a year and would have that money to spend elsewhere. I also think that offensive style marries up better with a pretty good defense which is what we now have. That's why I have to laugh at those who keep acting as if it's Zeke's contract that is hamstringing the Cowboys.. when before they redid Lawrence and traded Coop he was going to be the 4th or 5th highest paid player on the team. Sixth if they had signed Gregory. My contention is that handing Zeke the ball wins us more games and saves us money at the QB position. But it does require that we not have weak links in the middle of the offensive line and it requires that Moore not run him exclusively into the teeth of the defense, often behind said weak links, so there's that. Maybe it's just not meant to be.

KM is terrible at coordinating a run game. When he said he views outside runs as gimmick plays I was done. Then, every once in awhile he throws in some motion and tries to mix it up like we did against Washington. Why we can't consistently run coordinate is beyond me. Hopefully Schotenhiemer helps with the run game. They know it's a problem at least.

 

[starfan1]

To a degree but the line was holding and missing blocks left and right the first 5 games yet Zeke was on a 1600 yard pace and second in the NFL in rushing while averaging over 5 ypc. Zeke's falloff didn't happen until HE got hurt not when the line started stinking. He was routinely getting met in the backfield and ending up with a 3-4 yard gain. And when they actually did block he had some nice long runs. Not any home runs but a couple of standup doubles and stretch triples. If he's healthy Zeke will put up numbers.. almost regardless of what the line does. This insistence on worrying about what happens to him NEXT season is a complete mystery to me. He will either ball out this season or he won't. Either way the Cowboys can't pay his salary after this season. That's the business.. He understands and accepts it. Why can't people who neither pay his salary nor get any of it? What I can't get behind is the notion that we need to be rid of him. The dude is a great football player.. Whether he's leading the league in rushing or not, he can do great things on the football field. Placed in a more limited role where his body isn't taking such a beating he might absolutely destroy. We shall see.

Do I think Zekes injury played a role in things yea I do but Zekes first 5 games wasnt exactly against stellar defenses in terms of stopping the run. I think perhaps philly was the highest ranked and he didnt exactly maul them nor tampa. I think had pollard been given zekes carries he could have done a similar feat. Im just not a zeke guy never have been never will be. I belive we could have had a variety of RB perform pretty dang good with the line we had in 14-18. Murray put up better numbers in 14 than elliott in 16. They both balled out dont get me wrong but its because of the line. Zekes running style and wear and tear has played a role in his diminishing speed. I never thought he was a burner but he aint killing it with big runs.

Both dak and Zeke has had a good line until recently and both have went souith when the line did IMO. I also agree that the OC hasnt done the entire team any favors. I know you were a RB (pretty sure Ive heard you mention it) and will argue till the cows come home for the position I just think in the NFL they are a dime a dozen. You dont draft one at #4 and you dont cave to their stupid contract demands. There are but a few RBs that are worth the cabbage Zeke got and he aint one of them.

 

[RonnieT24]

Do I think Zekes injury played a role in things yea I do but Zekes first 5 games wasnt exactly against stellar defenses in terms of stopping the run. I think perhaps philly was the highest ranked and he didnt exactly maul them nor tampa. I think had pollard been given zekes carries he could have done a similar feat. Im just not a zeke guy never have been never will be. I belive we could have had a variety of RB perform pretty dang good with the line we had in 14-18. Murray put up better numbers in 14 than elliott in 16. They both balled out dont get me wrong but its because of the line. Zekes running style and wear and tear has played a role in his diminishing speed. I never thought he was a burner but he aint killing it with big runs.

Both dak and Zeke has had a good line until recently and both have went souith when the line did IMO. I also agree that the OC hasnt done the entire team any favors. I know you were a RB (pretty sure Ive heard you mention it) and will argue till the cows come home for the position I just think in the NFL they are a dime a dozen. You dont draft one at #4 and you dont cave to their stupid contract demands. There are but a few RBs that are worth the cabbage Zeke got and he aint one of them.

I think Zeke put up > 5 ypc and 95 yards in basically three quarters against the Eagles. He played one series in the 4th. And that was with Hargraves and Cox having their way with our line. But on your Murray take.. First of all Murray wasn't some bum.. secondly, I disagree that he put up better numbers.. He had more yards but only because he played one more game and had 70 more carries. Zeke averaged almost a half a yard more per carry (0.4) and scored 2 more TDs (15-13) on 70 fewer carries. You can think Pollard could have done what Zeke has done until the cows come home but neither you nor anyone else has been able to explain how a guy who can't stay healthy playing 25-30% of the snaps is going to stay healthy playing 70-75% ..

I will never agree that the Cowboys made a mistake by rewarding Zeke with a good contract. Their mistake was doing so then deciding not to make him earn it. The day he signed that deal they should have hitched their wagon to his arse and rode him for 25 touches a game until the wheels fell off. If they had no plan to do so then they should not have signed him. Let me say that again since people seem to keep missing this point every time I say it. If the Cowboys were not going to ride Zeke then they absolutely should not have re-signed him. Period. Yes there is more than one good running back in the NFL... In fact there are probably 20-25 of them. And I don't care about the other 24.. I care about the ones on my team. This team has wasted the talents of both Zeke AND Pollard.. Why would I think they wouldn't waste some other running back? If they hadn't given Zeke the money what else were they going to do with it? Sign Aaron Donald? Sign some other receiver?

 

[CowboyRoy]

He knows he’s gone

 

[plasticman]

Were you born in the 90s?

Here are a couple of examples off the top of my head..

John Riggins was released by the Jets and treated as a blocking fullback his first two season with the Ratscums. Until they figured out he could still run it. He then had his two best seasons in the NFL in years 13 and 14.. when he was 34 and 35!!

Our own Emmitt Smith was left for dead after two sub par seasons in '96 and '97... His answer was a 1300 yard season followed by a 1400 (1397) yard season and ending with a 1200 yard season. Not as good as his three best seasons but all three were better than his rookie season by a wide margin.

No, I'm so old that there isn't a whole lot left at the top of my head, memories or hair.

I never realized Riggins career was so up and down. There was actually a couple sets of years where he did practically nothing only to break out with another thousand yard season in an era where that wasn't easy. He was definitely a different kind of dude.

I can sort of understand why because the Skins had a Pro Bowl RB, Mike Thomas, backed up by Calvin Hill and Larry Brown, two other ex-Pro Bowlers. Riggins didn't gain a whole lot of yards his first two seasons because they didn't need him to. Once Hill and Brown left, Riggins took over. It wasn't like they didn't know he could do that because that's what he did for the Jets

As for Emmitt Smith, I don't think it can be said that he was ever left for dead because he wasn't. I mean, he had 11 consecutive thousand yard seasons , three 900 yard seasons, and one season where he was hurt and only started 5 games. The Cowboys never gave up on him, left him for dead. The issue was that he wasn't that dominant 1900 yards of offense guy anymore and so he wasn't worth the money that it would have taken to keep him.

I've actually been trying to contradict myself and research a better example of someone that everyone thought he slid to the point where he should retire but then he just has a total resurgence. I just don't think that was the perception with Riggins.

I was looking at guys like Adrian Peterson . I think people kind of wrote Peterson off before his thousand yard season with Washington.

 

[starfan1]

I will never agree that the Cowboys made a mistake by rewarding Zeke with a good contract .

And I will never agree that they made the right decision so now that we are understanding where each other sit we can move on. You don’t draft a RB at 4. Especially with Jalen Ramsey sitting there. Then compound the mistake by a BAD contract. I’ll root for him on Sunday’s because he’s a cowboy . I also never said Murray was a slouch . My point is it was and is the line that fuels the cowboys success . Not that Elliott is garbage because he isn’t . He just isn’t the fuel that powers the cowboy engine of recent.

and Moore could help him out some he’s part of the problem

 

[Hadenough]

Lol you sure do put a lot of thought into that Steve and a lot of assumptions but let’s address them then
1. No one said anything about a large contract for pollard ( so you exaggerate just a bit there )
I have said over and over rbs are a dime a dozen it’s the line that’s the most important part so honestly I don’t necessarily have to have pollard as a number 1
2. Do I hate zeke well I don’t know zeke so no I don’t but he’s over rated by many you especially!
3 . Zekes accomplishments while noteworthy are nothing that couldn’t have been exceeded or equaled by a number of backs again it’s been the line
4. Zeke is long in the tooth in terms of carry’s because early on he’s relied to much on power instead of elusiveness ( which I never saw much of) and his body now shows it he’s nowhere near as quick as pollard

and lastly your approach to zeke has been like this for years this isn’t new we could pull up a number of threads of you over reacting when it comes to him which is you’re right. Just as it is ours to call you on it

this isn’t the same 2014 national championship zeke that you have all postered on your wall give it a rest

my stance is I want to draft a rb to go with pollard . If pollard is too costly let his arse walk as well

This GM needs to stop falling in love with RBs and just have a stable of them. That's what my buddy does with women.

 

[kumizi]

So you want to give a HUGE contract to an UNPROVEN #1 RB> While beeching about zeke's contract. Yeah...makes sense.

define huge

Joe Mixon got 4/$48 with $10 million guaranteed

Zeke got 5/$90 with $50 million guaranteed

so yeah I wouldn’t mind keeping Pollard at a reasonable number and the contract Zeke got was a huge mistake.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

define huge

Joe Mixon got 4/$48 with $10 million guaranteed

Zeke got 5/$90 with $50 million guaranteed

so yeah I wouldn’t mind keeping Pollard at a reasonable number and the contract Zeke got was a huge mistake.

Zeke had the NFL performance and pedigree (ohio state National champ with his huge contribution on his part....75-+ yards and 7-8 TD's against 4 of the very best the NCAA had to offer, including have to win an extra game for the first time in NCAA history)( I know starfan is gonna give me sht for THAT...but it's the facts).

What has Pollard done...but be a very good #2 change of pace back? Not only to make people think he's a sure thing at #1....but deserves a fat contract.

"huge"?....I dunno...but we have a pretty solid history of overpaying 2nd contracts and getting under performance, wouldn't you say?
I suppose you should define "reasonable", and why would he accept "reasonable"...when he could get more from another team...if he's as locked in #1 RB as people say he is.

Again....I like Tony....especially in his role as the surprise back...out in the flats, the slot, pitches....those movement plays he is so good at. Delayed hand-off up the middle that Moore is SO fond of? Between tackles? Blocking for Dak and the o-line?

He is totally unproven in that regard. Some caution should be in order.