Unconfirmed: I blame the Cowboys

[CouchCoach]

Cowboys drafted 2 Rb’s this year. They heard the message.

They would have moved sooner than that if they thought he would be a no show.

 

[OmerV]

Moderator Edit: The OP contains information without an accompanying link to an article, etc.

It was reported that Zeke stated in January, that he would not play without a new contract. Why didn't management get in front of this nonsense at that time? This has nothing to do with Dak, Cooper, or any other player. The lines of communication should have been opened at that time.

How do you know the lines of communication weren't open then?

 

[blueblood70]

Moderator Edit: The OP contains information without an accompanying link to an article, etc.

It was reported that Zeke stated in January, that he would not play without a new contract. Why didn't management get in front of this nonsense at that time? This has nothing to do with Dak, Cooper, or any other player. The lines of communication should have been opened at that time.

I heard this on some sports talk shows..its true.. he let them know he wanted and extension.. theres reason they drafted 2 Rbs in the draft and loaded the PS with others..they knew he was most likely going to hold out and a long time ago.

 

[Vanilla2]

Good for Zeke

It is semantics but it does reflect on the phrase "honor the contract"

Why should a player honor a contract that ownership has shown not to honor for their benefit time and time again.

I don’t remember this honor the contract nonsense when ware was being asked to take a paycut

 

[aikemirv]

Agree, that's a given but there were extenuating circumstances to consider on this. Elliott is the best skill player on the team and they're getting ready to do the largest contracts for DE, QB and WR in the history of the franchise. And he and his agent are aware of all the players up next season.

I am just saying if I was in that room, I would have brought up the RB and what he's going to be making compared to the others and maybe someone did and they just shrugged that off as "nobody no shows with two years left".

One thing this has done, shine a really bright light on the unfairness of that 5th year option on 1st rounders. Play your *** off in college to get into the 1st round and then get penalized for that with a purely arbitrary 5th year that is all for the owner. And get penalized because he's a RB, as if they aren't already pissed. Maybe now we know why there's talk of a RB union because the NFLPA sure as hell wasn't looking out for them.

NFLPA was not looking out for rookies. This RB thing was not even an issue that I remember being discussed at all during the last CBA.

 

[iceberg]

Moderator Edit: The OP contains information without an accompanying link to an article, etc.

It was reported that Zeke stated in January, that he would not play without a new contract. Why didn't management get in front of this nonsense at that time? This has nothing to do with Dak, Cooper, or any other player. The lines of communication should have been opened at that time.

i must have missed the gossip column this was in.

intentionally to be sure.

 

[blueblood70]

So players dictate when they want to get paid, while under contract?

not dictate but try and use whats available to them in order to get paid what they are worth..
Zeles holdout beens discussed to death, hes not the first nor the last that will do this and im betting all RBs will try this now because they are being used up, devalued and spit out, its unique time for them and they are making a stand.. I dont blame him a bit ..lots of players in all Major sports leagues are FORCING trades, holding out, demanding more money...

Least we KEEP forgetting Emmitt smith did this TWICE!!!! So calling Zeke selfish and acting like hes doing something new, is ridiculous.. ES wouldn't even report to camp without a much bigger contract then his draft position allotted. He threatened to back to school and go back in the following years draft but realized he couldn't, they finally came to Terms ONLY to have ES do it AGAIN 3 years later, yes 3 years in to his CONTRACT..he missed the first 2 games into the season.. id say that is the way players do things when they feel underpaid, the ones who are elite and have a good argument like Zeke , they should do it.. why not?..

im not happy this is all going down like it is but I understand why hes doing it..

 

[aikemirv]

Good for Zeke


Why should a player honor a contract that ownership has shown not to honor for their benefit time and time again.

I don’t remember this honor the contract nonsense when ware was being asked to take a paycut

We have been over this again and again. The first time that an owner does not honor an NFL contract he will be sued - it never has happened!

 

[The Quest for Six]

Moderator Edit: The OP contains information without an accompanying link to an article, etc.

It was reported that Zeke stated in January, that he would not play without a new contract. Why didn't management get in front of this nonsense at that time? This has nothing to do with Dak, Cooper, or any other player. The lines of communication should have been opened at that time.

Zeke has a contract already, maybe he should honor it first.....

 

[McKDaddy]

"Honor" is a loose word to use. How many owners honor their words?

I understand that owners don't always do right but the bottom line in this case is that by asking for additional AND guaranteed money long before it is contractually due Zeke & his agent should have expected the amount to be DISCOUNTED. It's not a new financial concept.

He asked, they offered (they didn't have to). He should have either accepted or declined while still reporting for work even if he refused to participate in live drills. I don't see where the FO has done anything wrong. If they had refused to discuss a new contract at this time, I would feel the same way.

 

[CyberB0b]

It's not a loophole. Zeke is refusing to honor his word.

It has nothing to do with his word. He isn't complying with a legally binding contract.

 

[xwalker]

"Honor" is a loose word to use. How many owners honor their words?

Owner are not in breach of contract if they cut a player.

Players are in breech of contract when they don't report to play.

Owner's agree to play players the amount in their contract that is guaranteed.

No owners have refused to pay guaranteed money to players that were cut before they had collected all guaranteed money.

 

[John813]

not dictate but try and use whats available to them in order to get paid what they are worth..
Zeles holdout beens discussed to death, hes not the first nor the last that will do this and im betting all RBs will try this now because they are being used up, devalued and spit out, its unique time for them and they are making a stand.. I dont blame him a bit ..lots of players in all Major sports leagues are FORCING trades, holding out, demanding more money...

Least we KEEP forgetting Emmitt smith did this TWICE!!!! So calling Zeke selfish and acting like hes doing something new, is ridiculous.. ES wouldn't even report to camp without a much bigger contract then his draft position allotted. He threatened to back to school and go back in the following years draft but realized he couldn't, they finally came to Terms ONLY to have ES do it AGAIN 3 years later, yes 3 years in to his CONTRACT..he missed the first 2 games into the season.. id say that is the way players do things when they feel underpaid, the ones who are elite and have a good argument like Zeke , they should do it.. why not?..

im not happy this is all going down like it is but I understand why hes doing it..

I get that.

My point was even if Zeke wanted to get a new contract back in Jan/Feb whatever, it doesn't take precedence over what the FO had originally planned for this offseason. And that since a deal hasn't been hashed out yet, it doesn't mean the FO is to blame. We don't know if either side is being unreasonable in their demands.

#1 plan of action was D-Law locked up since he backed up his 2017 season with 2018 and well his tag was eating a lot of cap space.
Then it was onto getting their QB and WR done since they didn't have any advantage in contractual options with those two. Both were going to be UFA is no deal was reached. With Zeke, they had the fallback of the 5th year option.

Zeke went with the strongest counter he could do, which was to holdout, to speed up a potential contract.

I don't think the FO had to drop everything in order to please him.

 

[aikemirv]

not dictate but try and use whats available to them in order to get paid what they are worth..
Zeles holdout beens discussed to death, hes not the first nor the last that will do this and im betting all RBs will try this now because they are being used up, devalued and spit out, its unique time for them and they are making a stand.. I dont blame him a bit ..lots of players in all Major sports leagues are FORCING trades, holding out, demanding more money...

Least we KEEP forgetting Emmitt smith did this TWICE!!!! So calling Zeke selfish and acting like hes doing something new, is ridiculous.. ES wouldn't even report to camp without a much bigger contract then his draft position allotted. He threatened to back to school and go back in the following years draft but realized he couldn't, they finally came to Terms ONLY to have ES do it AGAIN 3 years later, yes 3 years in to his CONTRACT..he missed the first 2 games into the season.. id say that is the way players do things when they feel underpaid, the ones who are elite and have a good argument like Zeke , they should do it.. why not?..

im not happy this is all going down like it is but I understand why hes doing it..

For the reecord, ES did not have a contract either of the times you are talking about!

 

[blueblood70]

We have been over this again and again. The first time that an owner does not honor an NFL contract he will be sued - it never has happened!

yes it does we are talking paying the entire contracts value, all of it.. they have loopholes and language in it that allows them to CUT a player and void the contract and only pay a portion of the guaranteed money.. Its semantics, they do find ways to cut player sand not honor the entire original part of the deal..its why players are now asking for more guaranteed money but if Owners were TRULY HONORING contracts they be forced to keep the player and pay it all until the very end..

so the same language and semantics that allow for a player going into yr 4 of deal can ask for it to be redone.. its what Zekes doing ..

take pay cut or you are gone is not being honorable.. give me break!!!

 

[xwalker]

Moderator Edit: The OP contains information without an accompanying link to an article, etc.

It was reported that Zeke stated in January, that he would not play without a new contract. Why didn't management get in front of this nonsense at that time? This has nothing to do with Dak, Cooper, or any other player. The lines of communication should have been opened at that time.

If the Cowboys and Zeke's agent could not agree on a contract, then how would they "get in front of it".

Maybe you are saying the Cowboys should have announced that Zeke was likely to holdout before he actually did holdout.

 

[aikemirv]

yes it does we are talking paying the entire contracts value, all of it.. they have loopholes and language in it that allows them to CUT a player and void the contract and only pay a portion of the guaranteed money.. Its semantics, they do find ways to cut player sand not honor the entire original part of the deal..its why players are now asking for more guaranteed money but if Owners were TRULY HONORING contracts they be forced to keep the player and pay it all until the very end..

so the same language and semantics that allow for a player going into yr 4 of deal can ask for it to be redone.. its what Zekes doing ..

take pay cut or you are gone is not being honorable.. give me break!!!

It is not semantics - it is rule of law and facts. Your feelings don't negate the facts.

Signing bonus is the owners poison and being cut is the players poison - those are facts

The DEAL is that you can be cut!

 

[blueblood70]

For the reecord, ES did not have a contract either of the times you are talking about!

He did stop acting as if he was a RFA , its not TRUE he was under contract had entire year left ,.im not going to argue, not one report from back then or 99% of media rehashing it ,calls it anything but a holdout.. its still shows even a player who is in high regard will be selfish when it comes to his money.. its was a dang HOLDOUT nothing more nothing less he was scheduled to play that year..

 

[ghst187]

It's not a loophole. Zeke is refusing to honor his word.

After being an idiot numerous times and Jerry rushing in to protect him, then Zeke balks at honoring his contract essentially biting the hand that not only feeds him but has gone out on the line for him.

 

[blueblood70]

It is not semantics - it is rule of law and facts. Your feelings don't negate the facts.

Signing bonus is the owners poison and being cut is the players poison - those are facts

The DEAL is that you can be cut!

obviously you can HOLDOUT as well after yr 3 you can ask for anew deal.. being done by 4 players right now and OBJ and Brown FORCED Trades, Brown had no guaranteed money left and now has 30mil, how did that happen?...Bell may have lost money but he got paid well and got his way by no longer being a Steeler and didnt get hurt making less then he felt he was worth....