Is a big contract for Elliott the best decision?

Pay the man and lets start planning a SB run. All this contract talk is for the birds.

The Quest for Six said:

I usually don't watch or listen to Jerrys interviews because of all the Jerry double talk but I did happen to catch a couple interviews lately of Jerry with regards to comments about earning the right to joke about Zeke and glowing comments he made about Jaylon Smith signing and I get a strong impression that Jerry and the organization are perturbed by Zeke's action not showing up to Camp....Jerry went to bat for Zeke with the commish and the league with regards to Zeke's off field problems over the last couple of years, supporting him all the way and now Zeke returns that loyalty by holding out of camp with two years left on his deal...I just get the impression that Jerry iand Steven are not happy how Zeke is treating the organization and are in no rush to give him a deal anytime soon.......

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Agreed and I think that JJ was totally unprepared and shocked that this happened and that he's having to deal with this bollocks instead of getting a team cohesive and ready for the season.

glimmerman said:

Was a bad move. The bell contract set the market the gurly contract killed it. When it’s time for barkley to get paid he will be holding out. Owners and GM are going to stop the progression of the position pay.

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Well technically Bell signed after Gurley got his deal. So in theory, when Bell got much less than Gurley (and Bell didn't have a huge market to begin with), it should have reset the market.

Zeke deserves more than Bell, I would concede, but not more than Gurley. Because Gurley's contract is a massive outlier at the position.

LACowboysFan1 said:

You can shut down any one player if you want to. Rams decided to do that and see if Dak could beat them, which of course he didn't.

I'd still take a 3 game sample over a one game sample...

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they really shut down that bomb to gallop when he scored. Elliott shut himself down tripping over his own eagle on the goal line.

stasheroo said:

Like many of you, I find myself conflicted regarding the whole Zeke holdout issue. On one hand, I realize that he truly is a great player and a difference maker on the field. These Cowboys are certainly better with him than without him.

But is it in the team's best interests long term to make him the league's highest paid running back?

It certainly helps this year if they truly feel that they're a championship contender, and may be the difference between getting to the playoffs and not.

But can you trust the guy not to flake out again? Can you trust that once he gets paid he'll be the same iron man on the field that he has been? Can you trust him period?

And in a league that for better or worse (not being debated here) doesn't pay running backs big money, are you screwing up your cap by being the team that pays the most for theirs?

If you pay your running back tops in the league, where else are you short-changing yourself? Who are you forced to let go when there's no more cap room left?

Add it all up and I wonder if paying him is ultimately in the Cowboys long-term best interests?

What say you?

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Jerry paid Emmitt big time in 1993 and it resulted in 2 more SB wins. Paid Roy Williams big time and that didn't work out. So there's history either way, though I'm not one to think history always repeats itself, this is a more complicated situation.

Whether you pay Zeke big time or not is a decision to be made, there's no way to know if either way will turn out to be right, or wrong, good or bad, great or mediocre.

Glad it's not my decision....

Go Cowboys go franchise. Everything else is just an opinion. My opinion is balanced team. Find that balance and let's go win a championship

Sydla said:

Well technically Bell signed after Gurley got his deal. So in theory, when Bell got much less than Gurley (and Bell didn't have a huge market to begin with), it should have reset the market.

Zeke deserves more than Bell, I would concede, but not more than Gurley. Because Gurley's contract is a massive outlier at the position.

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Proves my point that the position is going to take a step backwards in pay. The rams likely angered a lot of owners. Every good RB will be holding out for bell money. I think with the drop in pay from gurly to bell that it makes sense for Elliot to sign this deal.

If he doesn’t then I am putting the pads on and taking the deal myself.

Sydla said:

Well technically Bell signed after Gurley got his deal. So in theory, when Bell got much less than Gurley (and Bell didn't have a huge market to begin with), it should have reset the market.

Zeke deserves more than Bell, I would concede, but not more than Gurley. Because Gurley's contract is a massive outlier at the position.

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And if Gurley has problems staying healthy, then the Rams screwed themselves. The Rams decided to take the risk, wouldn't be the first time a decision like that came back to bite a team in the behind....

Make Zeke the highest paid RB because he's shown that, and this offense uses him to the maximum. DAL isn't structured to win without #21... they're a running game and stout defense type team.

The QB makes Zeke leverage possible, for now. When this is a QB driven team, Zeke will be no more.

I'm way more hesitant about Dak and half a season of Amari than the RB.

Does anybody think Zeke doesn't deserve the contract he's looking for, based on his work?

Whirlwin said:

Go Cowboys go franchise. Everything else is just an opinion. My opinion is balanced team. Find that balance and let's go win a championship

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And that's the challenge isn't it?

Whirlwin said:

Go Cowboys go franchise. Everything else is just an opinion. My opinion is balanced team. Find that balance and let's go win a championship

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That’s would make all JJ money payouts look like he is genius.

stasheroo said:

Like many of you, I find myself conflicted regarding the whole Zeke holdout issue. On one hand, I realize that he truly is a great player and a difference maker on the field. These Cowboys are certainly better with him than without him.

But is it in the team's best interests long term to make him the league's highest paid running back?

It certainly helps this year if they truly feel that they're a championship contender, and may be the difference between getting to the playoffs and not.

But can you trust the guy not to flake out again? Can you trust that once he gets paid he'll be the same iron man on the field that he has been? Can you trust him period?

And in a league that for better or worse (not being debated here) doesn't pay running backs big money, are you screwing up your cap by being the team that pays the most for theirs?

If you pay your running back tops in the league, where else are you short-changing yourself? Who are you forced to let go when there's no more cap room left?

Add it all up and I wonder if paying him is ultimately in the Cowboys long-term best interests?

What say you?

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WHY OH WHY ANOTHER ZEKE POST, WE HAVE 200 OPEN TO ADD TOO....????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

why dont we add the other elephants in the room you want to over pay

Dak 30-35
Amari 17-20

those would be MUCH WORSE decisions so in that comparison id rather pay an actual legit producing Elite Athlete at the top of his game IE Zeke what hes WORTH then over pay for at best 2 players outside the top 10 at their postion..

they turning down those top 5 offers is the same as holding out IMO, its holding our cap hostage and says a lot about their character, I mean if Zekes selfish for wanting his actual Value, what does that make those two?

Seriously you want to kill the cap pay those guys way more then they are worth// Zeke can perform to his contract he already has, at least hes doing his job at his pay scale while 2 players who are good want elite money..

Im paying Zeke and looking at the offers so is the FO , so stop debatign if its good decsion or not, history will work all that out.. we will check back in 3 years and discus..all the verrwaction and opionionated with o fact base until results are sorted out is helping this, you can NOT control it.. Jerry and Stephen want Zeke and it shows wioth an UPPED offer..

Bottom line good drafting and a team at the prescribes of winning needs all these player 2-3 years to finish the story.. if they structure all the contratcs front loaded bonus money with minimal dead money after 3 years, we can make our run, burn it down and start over.

really sick of the hate and debate oh right no recent history shows an aelite bell cow RB has won a SB, whens the last time the 30+ QB led team to asb? one with a overpaid WR?

ill wait for the answer because last i checked that argument can be used for all those postions and its odd stat but its true..the more any teams spends on its elite players while making a run seem to never get back there..

Brady and Brees have taken less to help their teams , the recent ones like Philly used a backup QB and rookie QB and a great D to win one, Rams poaised for run got gifted a SB but Gurley was on a big deal and Goff a rookie deal, no over paid WR,

what am i missing ATL blew a lead and couldnt score in the 2nd haof with that QB/WR Combo and the WR wants even more..

what it seems to me is the narrative can be used for any offensive position player with the Market GUY(s) on their team havent won a SB.. So why are the owners paying them? why not reset the market backwards and use a new formula..??? are they Stuipid, seems liek to me the only reason they continue to do it is all the others keep doingit, we need new system starts with the QBs IMO.. the market is most out of control there and the WRs are next..

they are lifting their legs on the RB position becaue a lot f them come out of college NFL ready and are being used as scapegoats even though even at market they are like the 4th/5th on the list of payscales on any given team..

they want cheap RBs but they actually NEED astrong running game to win, so its not the elite RBs fault they want more its the owners cant afford them because of the other positions demands.. dont get it twisted i heard somewhere that at RBBC the NE patriots pay more then the DC for their stable..ut that doesnt mean they dont have RB! who they NEED to win, the Rams used 2 to make a SB

oh they are needed even in passing league but being thrown under the bus to appese the QB market..easy fix stop paying QBs so much and you will have money left for the Elite RB that derves it.. Dak making 2.5 times Zeke is a desparity i cant agree with and its insane..

glimmerman said:

This may be why Elliot signs this deal. He knows the RB pay will not go up. The gurly contract was a mistake by the rams. Will probly not be done again. I don’t think barkley will get that kind of money.

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Barkley will get the same money and he and the giants will be praised here because that’s how we roll

Mr_437 said:

Make Zeke the highest paid RB because he's shown that, and this offense uses him to the maximum. DAL isn't structured to win without #21... they're a running game and stout defense type team.

The QB makes Zeke leverage possible, for now. When this is a QB driven team, Zeke will be no more.

I'm way more hesitant about Dak and half a season of Amari than the RB.

Does anybody think Zeke doesn't deserve the contract he's looking for, based on his work?

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Hasn't he been offered a contract that recognizes his talents? Didn't they just yesterday offer him top 2 money?

Zeke is wanting more than anyone else & a butt load of guaranteed money and wanting it all 2 years before its due. That is the holdup.

Mr_437 said:

Make Zeke the highest paid RB because he's shown that, and this offense uses him to the maximum. DAL isn't structured to win without #21... they're a running game and stout defense type team.

The QB makes Zeke leverage possible, for now. When this is a QB driven team, Zeke will be no more.

I'm way more hesitant about Dak and half a season of Amari than the RB.

Does anybody think Zeke doesn't deserve the contract he's looking for, based on his work?

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And like Dak, a huge contract today likely won't be in a few years, if the Cowboys can win with Zeke's big contract then it's worth it. If they can't then it was a bad decision.

But I'm in agreement with you, for this team to win they have to have a great running game, whether it be with Zeke or somebody else, it's just that Zeke is more than just an average back, not sure they can win big with lesser talent there, but if the o-line can get back to Great Wall status, maybe they can...

Pantone282C said:

Stop. You are killing me today. Okay, one more.

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It's Friday, bother! Salud!!!

I think this is part of the reason I am completely on the side of not drafting RBs in round 1. That position group is now acutely aware of how most NFL teams value their position (not very highly). They even want to start their own union as a result (will never happen). If you're drafting a RB that high, and he lives up to the position he was drafted, then it looks like you are only getting that player for 3 seasons before a very likely holdout.

If I'm building a team, I'm using them up and replacing them often....and never using just one as a primary workhorse.

Whirlwin said:

Okay you want to go with that argument. Is Zeke is truly the best. He should still have been able to score. They complement one another you can't pass if you can't run. You can't run if you can't pass. So now that's on coaching right

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Please explain to me why the players in the league had Zeke at number 18 and Dak not in the top 100. They play against them, they know the game plan. If they had a gameplan to stop Dak he would at least get some respect in the top 100. No one gameplans against Dak, it is gameplan against the run and see if Dak can beat you. It is obvious. But please, lets just go by stats in one game and a trip at the goaline to make a judgement!

Even with the Triplets, the Cowboys didn't "have it all", really. Irvin was great, but didn't have elite speed. Troy was great, but not a real running threat. Emmitt was great, but didn't have elite speed, either.

But they won because of where their shortcomings were, it was compensated for. Irvin didn't have elite speed, but Harper did. Emmitt didn't have elite speed, but had a line that made holes so he had time to get past the line of scrimmage and use his moves to make yards and score tds. When Emmitt got bottled up, there was Novacek to pull safeties/linebackers off near the line of scrimmage.

Making a balanced team isn't that easy, hopefully the Cowboys can pull it off...

Whirlwin said:

I'm trying to do this without slamming. But what has all that yardage actually produced other than time of possession. How many points has it turned into current and whose fault is that he had six touchdowns in six fumbles last season. And those are the ones we got back his second season you didn't even play the full season. I wish we never drafted him.

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Good points to be sure. Let's also allow for the OL being a big part of the problem last year. Too many injuries and missing Fred didn't help at all. I'm thinking it'd be fair to see what he does this year before giving up on the guy. No question but what he regressed somewhat last year, though. Jerry will give him his dough, so we might as well get used to it. Let's also hope his contract is largely performance based.