Zeke’s “new” contract and workload history

[jazzcat22]

The FO just continues to prove the point that they don't know how to manage a football team. Zeke was a poor choice at #4 overall in the draft. We gave him a new contract with 2 years left on his rookie deal thus negating the upside of a first round contract. There is nothing special about him. He's as good as our offensive line.

You are just a hater. You always have been about Zeke. There is nothing he can do that you will say anything good.

 

[jazzcat22]

So far, he’s not HOF special, but he has been very good. But what good are his yards and production if after 5 seasons with him, it has translated to making the playoffs twice, and one wild card win? That’s how we should always judge value IMO. What has that player meant to this team in terms of playoff accomplishments? Too many Fans and apparently our FO are more enamored with stats than playoff wins.

So it is Zeke's fault they missed the playoffs?

 

[Bobhaze]

So it is Zeke's fault they missed the playoffs?

No. Just saying having him hasn’t translated into much. That’s on the whole organization not Zeke.

 

[Bobhaze]

How did the team negate the upside of a first round contract?

By giving him his second deal a year early.

 

[atlantacowboy]

So far, he’s not HOF special, but he has been very good. But what good are his yards and production if after 5 seasons with him, it has translated to making the playoffs twice, and one wild card win? That’s how we should always judge value IMO. What has that player meant to this team in terms of playoff accomplishments? Too many Fans and apparently our FO are more enamored with stats than playoff wins.

Very good isn't good enough for the highest paid rb of all time. RBs are a dime a dozen in this league.

 

[Aviano90]

By giving him his second deal a year early.

Doesn't negate the rookie contract. It didn't even negate us picking up Zeke's 5th year option.

 

[Hoofbite]

Restructuring is, and always has been, a fool's game.

 

[jazzcat22]

Very good isn't good enough for the highest paid rb of all time. RBs are a dime a dozen in this league.

SMH and

 

[Bobhaze]

Very good isn't good enough for the highest paid rb of all time. RBs are a dime a dozen in this league.

Don’t disagree with the dime a dozen statement. Last year, I believe 18 of the top 20 rushers in the league were on rookie contracts or cheap FA deals. Paying top dollar for a RBIs not wise cap management. And again, to everyone about to strike, lol, I’m not knocking Zeke. It’s not his fault we have poor cap management or roster building.

 

[CowboyFrog]

Don’t disagree with the dime a dozen statement. Last year, I believe 18 of the top 20 rushers in the league were on rookie contracts or cheap FA deals. Paying top dollar for a RBIs not wise cap management. And again, to everyone about to strike, lol, I’m not knocking Zeke. It’s not his fault we have poor cap management or roster building.

This....we have Zeke and he is a top RB, the problem is the position not Zeke. The drop off between top tier and good at RB is very slim when compared to other positions...this is why most GM's dont give big money to RB's these days. Again thats not knocking Zeke its an RB position statement...

 

[atlantacowboy]

Doesn't negate the rookie contract. It didn't even negate us picking up Zeke's 5th year option.

It absolutely does b/c it impacts the cap. Zeke's cap hit in 2018 was 2.7M. His cap hit in 2019 after he signed that big contract was 8.2M. Last year his cap hit was 19M which is absurd for a RB in a buyers market.

 

[Aviano90]

It absolutely does b/c it impacts the cap. Zeke's cap hit in 2018 was 2.7M. His cap hit in 2019 after he signed that big contract was 8.2M. Last year his cap hit was 19M which is absurd for a RB in a buyers market.

The cap hit is just accounting. The team could spread it out however they wanted. The fact is he signed a 4 year rookie contract which gave Dallas the rights to him from 2016 - 2019. They picked up his 5th year option which gave the Cowboys his rights for 2020. He signed a 6 year extension which then put him under contract from 2021-2026. The higher the cap hits now, the lower they will be later.

I didn't like the extension but we still benefited from his rookie contract, up to and including, taking advantage of the 5th year option.

 

[Ranched]

With all those touches, I don't blame Him for holding out. He's a lot smarter than many around here.

I believe Elliott's agent was/is the smart one.

 

[atlantacowboy]

The cap hit is just accounting. The team could spread it out however they wanted. The fact is he signed a 4 year rookie contract which gave Dallas the rights to him from 2016 - 2019. They picked up his 5th year option which gave the Cowboys his rights for 2020. He signed a 6 year extension which then put him under contract from 2021-2026. The higher the cap hits now, the lower they will be later.

I didn't like the extension but we still benefited from his rookie contract, up to and including, taking advantage of the 5th year option.

Lets not pretend that giving Zeke a new contract 2 years early was part of any grand plan to manage the cap. He got the deal b/c he held out and threatened to sit out the season.

 

[Doomsday101]

First of all…spoiler alert: I don’t hate Zeke. I appreciate his skills and all the yards he’s logged here. Ok? Just making that clear up front, lol.

Now on to two points I noticed recently involving Zeke that I think reflect poor decisions made by this FO with down the road consequences:

1. Did anyone notice his contract restructure? It may have fallen under the radar for some, but the Cowboys restructured Zeke’s contract, changing his $9.6 million in salary this year, and converts it to a signing bonus. It frees up some cap space, but it also has down the road consequences. It means if the Cowboys want to off load Zeke and his big salary the next two years, that just got harder because the converted salary to signing bonus makes his future cap hit higher than before. Not smart IMO.
   
   
2. Zeke’s huge workload history while garnering huge cap space is a problem. Zeke has had 1654 touches in his 5 years in the league, which already places him as 11th all time in touches in NFL history. That doesn’t count the 650 touches he had in 3 season at Ohio State. The guy has had about 2300 touches in 8 years. Some points on this:

• That is a TON of miles on those tire treads. RBs in NFL history with those kind of touch numbers ALL burnout early unless you’re Walter Payton or Emmitt Smith.
• With a reduced role, maybe Zeke could last a few years as an effective RB. But if they keep giving him the numbers they have for 5 years, he won’t be effective much longer.

Bottom line- I hope this contract restructure doesn’t bite this team’s cap in the posterior in the next two years. And if this front office is so committed to Zeke for 2-3 more seasons, they better get serious about some load management.

Main thing is Zeke for the most part has been injury free and that goes a long way for RB and is why Emmitt and Peyton were able to maintain the work load for as long as they did. Many of the RB who have a ton of carries you look and it was injuries that did them in.

 

[Aviano90]

Lets not pretend that giving Zeke a new contract 2 years early was part of any grand plan to manage the cap. He got the deal b/c he held out and threatened to sit out the season.

It's not a new contract. It's an extension of the current obligations he is already under contract for. With that extension, they can spread the future earnings into years that he is already under contract for.

And, yes, I am aware of the reason why he signed an extension early.

 

[Bobhaze]

So it is Zeke's fault they missed the playoffs?

Jazzy, the criticism I’m leveling is at the FO, not Zeke. It’s not Zeke’s fault he’s overpaid and improperly managed. All high paid players to me are only worth whatever the team collectively accomplishes. If the Cowboys can ever win even a divisional round playoff game with all their high paid players, it would be worth it. That hasn’t happened in decades. And that is on the Jones front office, not any player.

 

[Bobhaze]

Main thing is Zeke for the most part has been injury free and that goes a long way for RB and is why Emmitt and Peyton were able to maintain the work load for as long as they did. Many of the RB who have a ton of carries you look and it was injuries that did them in.

No doubt Zeke has been durable without any major injury so far. But there have been some great backs who just faded because of overuse, not any particular major injury. Some guys who come to mind who were great but took too many carries- Earl Campbell, Shaun Alexander, Eddie George, Jamal Anderson…just off the top my head- guys who were great but then fell off a cliff after too many carries. It doesn’t have to be an injury to make a RB decline.

 

[Ranched]

No. Just saying having him hasn’t translated into much. That’s on the whole organization not Zeke.

 

[75boyz]

So far, he’s not HOF special, but he has been very good. But what good are his yards and production if after 5 seasons with him, it has translated to making the playoffs twice, and one wild card win? That’s how we should always judge value IMO. What has that player meant to this team in terms of playoff accomplishments? Too many Fans and apparently our FO are more enamored with stats than playoff wins.

Perfectly said. The Front office of this team and it's fan base choose the fantasy football approach to football over winning championships.