With Ezekiel Elliott holding out for a new contract, there is a discussion circulating on social media about whether or not he should be the highest-paid running back in the league. The Dallas Cowboys reportedly offered Zeke a deal that would make him the second-richest RB behind Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams, but he did not agree to the terms.
Obviously, this reaction caused some issues on Twitter as fans heavily criticized Zeke for turning this deal down. Well, former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas had a unique viewpoint on the situation, one that actually explained why Zeke should be the highest-paid player at his position. Interestingly enough, this is also the last post on Twitter that the Cowboys RB retweeted.
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Throughout the course of NFL history, if you are the best player at your position (or clearly one of the best) when you re-sign a second contract with the team that drafted you, you usually beat the highest paid current contract at your position by 15 to 20%.
— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) August 23, 2019
Obviously, the biggest argument used by those not wanting to see Zeke get paid like a superstar is that he has some off the field issues. He was suspended for six games in 2017 and has since dealt with other incidents that placed him under investigation. Thomas had an answer for that as well, and he said that the numbers still support giving Elliott a massive payday.
“There is a valid argument to be made, that because of Zeke’s suspension and off the field issues, his value should be reduced, so even if you reduce the value a little bit, he should still beat the Gurley contract by 5%.”
To Thomas’ point, Elliott has been extremely effective during his three-year career. In only 40 out of a possible 48 regular-season games, the Cowboys star has rushed for 4,048 yards and 28 touchdowns. He’s added another 1,199 yards and six touchdowns as a receiver. This includes two seasons in which Elliott led the league in rushing yards (2016, 2018).
For comparison, Gurley has appeared in 58 out of a possible 64 regular-season games as a member of the Rams. Like Elliott, he has also been used as both a runner and a receiver. Gurley has tallied 4,547 yards and 46 touchdowns on the ground with another 1,883 yards and 10 touchdowns as a receiver. He’s been extremely effective in terms of scoring, but his 78.4 yards-per-game pales in comparison to Zeke’s 101.2.
From a production standpoint alone, Thomas believes that Zeke should be the highest-paid RB in the entire NFL. Adding in his reputation as a generational talent simply cements this opinion. Unsurprisingly, Elliott agrees with this assessment and has no problem sharing that viewpoint on social media.
