The Ezekiel Elliott contract holdout is reaching a fever pitch which means one thing, we’re now in a game week. Friday, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined 105.3 The Fan to discuss the latest in the “Zek” situation and went down a road NFL owners probably should avoid — honoring contracts. Jones reveals “you enter a different world when you don’t honor your agreements,” which in theory is correct. However, it hasn’t been applied in practice from his peers across the league, something one of the owner’s former players agreed upon.
Dez Bryant, formerly wide receiver of the Dallas Cowboys gave his thoughts on the situation and sided completely with Ezekiel Elliott on the matter, saying: “Zeke great for you…15 years 20 years from now you are going to thank yourself… being 100% committed to something and not getting that same commitment back will break you down! Stand your ground.. I wish I would have done a lot of things different.”
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He continued, when confronted with the fact that Ezekiel Elliott has two years left on his current contract. “You better go check what Zeke has done since he stepped foot in the league..I’m going off my experiences why I believe he should stand by what he want..plus you don’t think I wanted the rest of the money from my contract..they have options to let you go whenever.”
While it’s an argument the NFL faces yearly, the value of contracts and why players in professional football don’t have fully guaranteed deals similar to those in the NBA and Major League Baseball. No matter which side of the fence you fall on, that conversation will always be there as long as NFL owners control the power (and leverage when negotiating collective bargaining agreements).
Nevertheless, in this instance here, the longer the holdout lasts (with high profile players and pundits weighing in on the matter), the further we likely get from seeing Ezekiel Elliott line up with the Dallas Cowboys week one against the New York Giants…which even though Dallas may not need him then, you hate to see it for the fans who finally have a team that could legitimately compete for a Super Bowl this season and, well, it’s been a few decades since the last Lombardi trophy found permanent residence with America’s Team.
It should lastly be noted that public comments such as these are often posturing and creating leverage in said contract negotiations, so don’t take them all personally or to heart. Both sides want the same ring in the end, it just depends who is willing to sacrifice more money to get it.
