Twitter: Bob Sturm: Zeke's contract did NOT reset the RB market

[Ranched]

"Now 36 months later, no RB contract in the NFL has exceeded $75m and $38m guaranteed."

That's because the entire league had seen what a bust Elliott is. Had he been consistent like Emmitt, another back would have exceeded the $75m.

 

[AbeBeta]

Never. Ever. Never. Pay. Up. For. A. Running Back

Should never have folded when 22 held out. Look how bad that turned out

 

[CouchCoach]

I simply don't understand why Stephen is the guy that negotiates the contracts.
He's so terrible at it.

Because he is family. And family is not accountable.

 

[TwentyOne]

Seems this Mosher guy is another Twitter w|-|ore who is selling his dignity just for clicks.

 

[jterrell]

Sturm is a smart man but this is only sorta true.

Yes, Zeke still has more GTD and more total cash but that is also because DAL bought two years of his rookie deal in that extension which made it a 6-year deal. --same concept as pat mahomes, massive totals but theoretically good value overall.
They basically knew they weren't ever signing him to a subsequent deal but timed it so they could restructure him at 26 to a lowish cap hit then release him at age 28.
And Zeke was pick 4 which matters for price.

But this year Zeke is at 12.4M in total cash.
That barely edges Derrick Henry at 12M and Alvin Kamara at 11.5
Those deals were RB contract rest deals that came after Zeke's.
The market did somewhat reset but Dalvin's injuries, CMACs injuries, SaQuon's injuries have held the RB costs down.

To sum up: RB market isn't reset well above Zeke by any means and health has robbed the few guys who had a chance to approach it.
But market has paid well above priors. Just not quite at Zeke level.

What does matter is Dallas hasn't restructured Zeke.
Same as they didn't restructure Coop last year.
DAL can leverage a starting role with Tony Pollard if he signs a team friendly deal that would see Zeke released.
A release would create 11m in dead cap but free up 5m in cap space.

POTENTIAL OUT: 2023, 4 YR, $50,124,551; $11,860,000 DEAD CAP

 

[jterrell]

Because he is family. And family is not accountable.

With 100 Jones' being involved nepotism is real,,, all that being said they did hire an actual non-Jones contract guy.
And the team is even cheaper than ever before.

 

[jterrell]

To put the issues in context..........let's say Stephen called Zeke's bluff and made him play out his rookie deal.

• 2016......signed his rookie deal
• 2017......rookie deal
• 2018......rookie deal
• 2019......Zeke gets a new deal
• 2020......would have been a 5th-year option
• 2021......he could have tagged him ( $8.6M )

They couldn't have tagged him 8.6M. His 5th year option would have been 9.09M and the franchise tag would have been 120% of that 9.09M which is 10.9M

• 2020......9.09M
• 2021......he could have tagged him ( $10.9M)

 

[TwoDeep3]

From a removed point of view where you leave your emotions at the door, it was a brilliant move by Zeke's agent. Clearly Dak was going to command a huge contract. Both sides of that negotiations were quietly contentious. Zeke's agent could see the future where there might not be a big enough payday for his client once Dak signed.

The Cowboys would not live without a QB. There was no alternative to that logjam in the eyes of the team. Let Dak walk, and what team you had left would be crapola. And anyone with a passing interest of the offseason without Dak signed, and then Zeke coming into his last season, the play was to force the team to pay the running back.

I am not pleased how it went down, but from the POV of two sides getting something done, this was a master stroke by Zeke's agent. He clearly took the management to the wood shed.

And this episode, perhaps more than any other, indicates Jethro and Little Anus are out of their league when it comes to managing a pro team, if building a championship squad is the real goal.

 

[jterrell]

From a removed point of view where you leave your emotions at the door, it was a brilliant move by Zeke's agent. Clearly Dak was going to command a huge contract. Both sides of that negotiations were quietly contentious. Zeke's agent could see the future where there might not be a big enough payday for his client once Dak signed.

The Cowboys would not live without a QB. There was no alternative to that logjam in the eyes of the team. Let Dak walk, and what team you had left would be crapola. And anyone with a passing interest of the offseason without Dak signed, and then Zeke coming into his last season, the play was to force the team to pay the running back.

I am not pleased how it went down, but from the POV of two sides getting something done, this was a master stroke by Zeke's agent. He clearly took the management to the wood shed.

And this episode, perhaps more than any other, indicates Jethro and Little Anus are out of their league when it comes to managing a pro team, if building a championship squad is the real goal.

Where the agent really won was the rolling GTD money.
Dallas would likely not have Zeke right now if this year hadn't been GTD.
But we will see how they feel next year as he'll need to have a special season to return and even then it isn't likely to be on that deal.

All that being said, Dallas put themselves in this spot when they drafted a RB 4th overall.
Zeke's agent just did his job and well.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Where the agent really won was the rolling GTD money.
Dallas would likely not have Zeke right now if this year hadn't been GTD.
But we will see how they feel next year as he'll need to have a special season to return and even then it isn't likely to be on that deal.

All that being said, Dallas put themselves in this spot when they drafted a RB 4th overall.
Zeke's agent just did his job and well.

This was all about trying to squeeze another 2-3 years from Romo's career. He had the best season of his career in 2016 when Murray led the league in rushing. When Stephen made up his mind that he was not given Murray anymore than $5M a year, the seed to where we are today was planted. I specifically recall Romo, Witten, and Jason Garret pleading with Stephen to him signed. What crazy is Murray was only asking for $6-7M but Stephen was locked in on the $5M one, they saw Randell as an easy replacement and two, they didn't Murray had anything left in the tank after running in the ground.

So when all this backfired drafting Zeke (the best RB in the draft) was a no-brainer in their minds. It still ticks me off how all this could have been avoided by simply retaining DeMarco Murray.

 

[Thomas82]

The REAL issue was Garrett. Jerry stayed in bed way to long with him. Zeke and his agent saw that Garrett was going to do to him what they did to Demarco Murray...and they got out in front of it. And frankly, I don't blame them. Run Zeke on 1st, run Zeke on 2nd, throw it to him on 3rd or have him pick up the blitz on 3rd. Either way, Zeke was getting hit on EVERY play. When you spend the draft capital on Zeke that we did...the idea should not have been "let's get 4 or 5 years out of him". If you are going to have that mentality, draft a RB in the 3rd (like Murray) or go RB by committee. That kind of draft capital should be reserved for 8 - 10 year players. And you were never going to get 8 - 10 years out of Zeke the way Garrett was using him.

All facts!!

 

[CWR]

Jerry and his boy are the smartest fellas in the room, as per usual.

 

[MarcusRock]

Said before and saying it again, Zeke caught them with their pants down and went for the throat. Stephen was thinking he had another year of cushion to get his contract done and boom, Zeke held out. Rather than calling Zeke's bluff, Stephen panicked and the rest is history.

If there's a Ring of Honor for sports agents, Zeke's should go on it the minute Zeke retires.

 

[Flamma]

I think defenders are just bigger these days. LBs are 250 pounds and run like the wind. Getting mashed by them is too much after a while.

Yeah, I get that they are bigger. But you go watch a few of those 80s games. Those guys are getting hit harder, gang tackled, slammed to the ground, and late hit. A lot of run plays would be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct today. You don't see that kind of violence in today's game. Hell, a lot of the time the RB is still standing when the whistle blows. And since it's a passing league, they run less now.

 

[Blackspider214]

I simply don't understand why Stephen is the guy that negotiates the contracts.
He's so terrible at it.

Stephen is terrible at every thing he does. Nepotism at its finest on why he is even employed on an NFL team. And Jerry's grandsons will be in his position in a few decades. This cycle will never end.

 

[Whyjerry]

Yeah, I get that they are bigger. But you go watch a few of those 80s games. Those guys are getting hit harder, gang tackled, slammed to the ground, and late hit. A lot of run plays would be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct today. You don't see that kind of violence in today's game. Hell, a lot of the time the RB is still standing when the whistle blows. And since it's a passing league, they run less now.

I hear you. I still contend it’s the size and strength of the modern defender. Parsons would be unblockable in the 80s.

 

[Flamma]

I hear you. I still contend it’s the size and strength of the modern defender. Parsons would be unblockable in the 80s.

Oh I agree. He would be a menace. But Parsons is not the common player. Regardless of size and strength, that doesn't mean you're hitting hard. Think about it, how many hard hits you see lately in the NFL? Defense does not play with the same ferocity or intensity it did in the past.

The only reason I'm bringing it up is because lately I've been watching games from the late 70s and early 80s. The difference in violence is extremely noticeable. They played with reckless abandon. And the surfaces they played on were terrible.

 

[jterrell]

This was all about trying to squeeze another 2-3 years from Romo's career. He had the best season of his career in 2016 when Murray led the league in rushing. When Stephen made up his mind that he was not given Murray anymore than $5M a year, the seed to where we are today was planted. I specifically recall Romo, Witten, and Jason Garret pleading with Stephen to him signed. What crazy is Murray was only asking for $6-7M but Stephen was locked in on the $5M one, they saw Randell as an easy replacement and two, they didn't Murray had anything left in the tank after running in the ground.

So when all this backfired drafting Zeke (the best RB in the draft) was a no-brainer in their minds. It still ticks me off how all this could have been avoided by simply retaining DeMarco Murray.

Totally.
But it was weird because they basically spent nothing at RB leading up to that including letting Murray walk, which turned out to be genius.
Barber, Murray. They had success with RBs drafted outside R1 much less the top 5.
The sheer value of pick 4 meant they could have fallen a few spots and recouped an additional 1.
It was a complete about face and total 180 from prior RB directions for Dallas.
Just so very strange.

Zeke ended up being walk in great of course and has been a great Cowboy overall but it is just tough to pay that position out at top of scale and still field what you need around them.